Devil's Due
by Professor Image
Summary: It was in that moment I saw it: the Darkness. In me it saw promise, and a tool. In it I saw power, and hope. It welcomed me with open arms, accepting me as its own, and I, it. Now I am known as the Black Angel; the Fallen One; the Deciever; the Devil...the Soul Taker. (Discontinued)
1. Crest of the Devil

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or any other fictitious material included herein. The only things I own are original characters, plots, and themes covered in this story. This story was written for entertainment purposes only, and as such I have made no money off of this work. So don't sue.

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**IMPORTANT! READ FIRST!**

**After the release of History Keeper and the Five Faces of Evil I decided to go for a different approach on writing fanfiction. I'm big on supporting the fanfiction community, and helping authors develop plots and character ideas for new fanfictions. As such, I'm a big supporter of challenges and plot bunnies.**

**So, I decided that any fanfiction that I write after the date of 08-22-2012 will be up for adoption. This includes any materials developed throughout the courses of the stories, from plot lines, OCs (original characters), and themes, as well. It's my hope that my stories will inspire more would-be writers and experienced writers to take on new stories.**

**Provided that anyone who adopts my stories gives credit to me being the original creator in the disclaimer, then I don't care where the stories are taken. Any materials developed by me can be taken from the stories I write that were written after the DATE of 08-22-2012, including any chapters and materials developed by me AFTER the release of this notice.**

**You may also, as the would-be writer, taken any material and ideas from me, even if you don't want to use my whole stories, provided that these ideas and materials are from stories published after the DATE of 08-22-2012.**

**Here's lists of the stories that you CAN and CANNOT use:**

**Usable Stories:**

**Devil's Due**

**History Keeper and the Five Faces of Evil**

**Unusable Stories:**

**My Super Valentine**

**Silence Falls**

**A Super Christmas**

**Dark Times**

**Legends and Lies**

**The Root of Evil**

**Halo: Exodus**

**Kaze Noil: Whispers of the Wind**

**Kaze Noil: The Defiant Wind**

**Kaze Noil: Wind Blade Turning**

**Kenpachi: Immortal Demon**

**Alternate: the Leader Unknown**

**Certain stories, like Kaze Noil, will get a reboot sometime in the near future. However, until the remake, they CANNOT be used by would-be writers wishing to use the material unless prior stated by me. To see if you can write stories based off of my older works, please PM me and I will send a reply stating if I'm okay with you using my work.**

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That being said, enjoy:

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Devil's Due

Chapter I

Crest of the Devil

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Darkness…

Every which way he turned he saw it.

Not a speck of light to be seen.

"Hello?" the boy called. Despite the sheer emptiness, his voice was sound and didn't echo. It was unexpected.

The boy waved a hand through the air, taking a single step forwards. However, he was met with resistance, as if he had walked straight into mud. Cringing at the thought, the boy took a step back, and felt like he had walked into a pool of water. The boy turned around, once more stepping into a pool of SOMETHING. But unlike the previous two times he felt as if he had walked into an inferno. The boy took another step back and welcomed the quiet, cool darkness that settled over him over the raging heat.

The boy was Uzumaki Naruto, and for the moment he thought that he was dead.

It was understandable, really. After his "sensei" Jiraiya had tossed him down that cliff he had fallen, and fallen, and fallen until the sky had turned dark and he could no longer hear the cascading water around him. And he was still falling despite this, with no end in sight.

Any of his attempts to stop his own fall or to call upon a summoned frog to aid him was for not. The times when he had reached out with a chakra covered hand to the cliff face had resulted in cutting his hand pretty badly. And when he had attempted to summon a frog he had only managed a small tadpole.

That was when he had remembered Jiraiya's words about the red chakra that he had felt before. Remembering that Jiraiya had wanted him to get into contact with that chakra, the boy had tried drawing it out, but was met without success. Naruto was just about ready to finally appreciate the thought of death when he fell into the darkest part of the ravine. Since then he had continued falling, until he had landed, softly, in the middle of all this darkness.

Despite the fact that he should be thanking Lady Luck for saving his arse yet again, Naruto just couldn't muster it. There was just something… _unnerving_ about this darkness that shrouded him. Naruto looked up towards the sky, but couldn't see anything besides endless darkness.

"What's going on?" he questioned of no one.

"What's wrong, scaredy-cat?" a voice hissed from his right. Suddenly, dark, maniacal laughter spilled out into the darkness. The voice lacked all hints as to gender, neither sounding male nor female, and more flat toned than anything else.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, his nostrils flaring, "Sasuke, is that you?" he shouted back. Naruto swore. If this was the Uchiha's idea of a joke then he was going to be PISSED.

"Naru-to, you're annoying," another voice whispered. Naruto turned his head, not expecting another person to be there as well.

"Sakura?" Naruto grinned at the thought of the girl he had a crush on and began making his way towards where the voice had come from.

"You're a little weird," someone else cackled. Naruto's eyebrows knitted together, trying to place where he had heard those words before. Then his eyes widened.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're here, too?" Naruto called.

"…the Nine Tailed Fox would do that…" someone hissed. Naruto looked around in confusion, unable to determine who was speaking, as that certainly didn't sound like Iruka Umino. Naruto frowned, suddenly realizing that he was in incredible danger.

"…you are the Nine Tailed Fox!" a voice shouted, and it was twisted parody of Mizuki's voice, neither male nor female, and yet sounding utterly revolting at the same time.

"Nine Tailed Fox!" the other voices chanted.

"Shut up!" Naruto shouted, feeling unusually violent.

"Nine Tailed Fox!" more voices began to join the others.

"SHUT UP!" Naruto shook his head furiously, clenching his eyes tight trying to block out the voices. It was like every fear that he had been hiding deep inside had been brought, agonizingly to the surface, like a bandage ripped too soon.

"NINE TAILED FOX!" the voices reached a symphony, a chorus of shouting so loud and composed of so many voices that he couldn't make hide nor hair of it. Naruto clapped his hands to his ears and sank down to the ground.

There was silence. None of the voices spoke for the longest of moments. Naruto slowly removed his hands from his ears tentatively, listening for any hint that the strange voices had returned. Then, as if suddenly come to life, two great, gigantic, seething, violent gold eyes appeared, looming over the boy.

"Uzumaki Naruto," it was like every voice in the world was speaking at once, all in tune together at the same time, becoming a booming symphony of voices. Naruto staggered backwards, uncomprehending of what loomed before him.

Turning, Naruto made to run, but the eyes had turned with him, coming to stop in front of him again. Gold eyes stared down at him, violent and judging. Naruto gulped.

"Yes?" Naruto asked, trying to maintain a calm face. Every voice in the world laughed at once; it wasn't pleasant.

"You are worthy," the voices echoed. Naruto wasn't sure what he was worthy of, but it couldn't be good.

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XXX

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"So let me get this straight," Hiruzen Saurtobi, the Third Hokage began, fighting for composure and coming off as rather cross despite this, "Hatake Kakashi refused to teach Naruto during the finals of the chunin examines because he had to teach Sasuke to "survive" his fight with Gaara; so he pawned him off to Ebisu. Following this, Ebisu took Naruto to the hot springs to teach him how to walk on water. But their training was interrupted when Ebisu noticed 'you'," he motioned to Jiraiya, "peeping on the female side of the hot springs.

"Following that," Sarutobi continued, "you beat Ebisu soundly, and then were wedeled into accepting Naruto as a student to make up for 'beating' his sensei. After that, you took him to a lake where you began teaching him to summon. After noticing that his chakra control was off, as he was still unable to walk on water, you unsealed the Five Point Seal that Orochimaru had placed on Naruto, and immediately you both noticed that Naruto could not only walk on water, but his own chakra control had increased significantly.

"Then, seeing the lack of progress on Naruto's part you began trying to teach him how to summon the Nine Tailed Fox's chakra at will. However, Naruto showed next to no progress on this part, and you wasted a good month trying to teach Naruto an obviously pointless technique, since he couldn't use it, but you also had the gall to toss the boy off a cliff in the hopes that his fight or flight responses would call the Nine Tail's chakra to him. And now, because you decided in all your wisdom that the best way to teach a child how to use a technique that is hazardous to his continued health even if he had been able to master it, we now do not know where Naruto is, or even if he is alive or dead. Do I have it all right, then?" Sarutobi finally asked.

Having listened as Sarutobi listed one failing after another on Jiraiya's part; the perverted hermit thought that he had never felt lower. Despite the anger on Sarutobi's face or the way he was busy puffing on his pipe in order to retain a semblance of control; it was the disappointment in his eyes that was the worst.

Hating to admit it, but unable to take the furious silence that had settled in the wake of Hiruzen's rant, Jiraiya said, "Yeah."

Crack.

Picking up the pieces of his now mutilated pipe, the Third Hokage ventured away from his desk to retrieve another from his cabinet on the other side of the room. This also allowed him to turn his gaze from the silver haired pervert, helping to calm his raging anger minutely. However, despite his attempts to calm himself, least he murder his student, the pipe that he had retrieved had suffered the same fate as the last.

"Jiraiya," Sarutobi said at last, his back still turned to the man, using the brief respite to avoid losing his temper. Still, he couldn't help inputting, "If young Naruto is indeed dead I am going to gut you like a fish."

"Of course, sensei," Jiraiya winced. Hiruzen was definitely pissed. If he was resorting to death threats the man was likely on the verge of suffering a breakdown. Or he would be suffering from temporary insanity.

"Very well," Sarutobi eventually decided, still with his back turned to the silver haired pervert. He gingerly plucked another pipe out of the cabinet, and bemoaned the loss of it when his tight grip killed it like the last two. Putting himself back on track, however, the old Hokage continued, saying, "We shall wait until the chunin examines before declaring young Naruto officially dead. I believe that nothing save death would stop the lad from coming to the stadium that day, so, if he is indeed alive, then we should expect him at the stadium when it's his turn."

"Of course, sensei," Jiraiya said dutifully.

Nodding his head at his decision, Sarutobi continued, saying, "And assuming he is alive, I will have a restraining order placed on you preventing you from contacting the boy again," Jiraiya grimaced. "Further, I will now fine you for every time you are caught peeking in the Hidden Leaf Village. Understand?" Jiraiya's eyes were as wide as saucer plates. It was a little known fact, but Jiraiya getting caught peeping happened at least several dozen times a week.

"How much?" Jiraiya eventually asked. Sarutobi stroked his goatee, needing something to do with his hands as he didn't feel comfortable grabbing a pipe yet.

"500,000 ryo every time you're caught," Sarutobi eventually declared. Now Jiraiya was in a fetal position on the floor. Considering how often he was caught it wasn't that surprising that he'd be moaning this rule.

"Now, if that's all the news you have for me then I want you out of my sight. Don't come back unless you have news on Naruto's whereabouts, alive or dead," he told him. Then Sarutobi turned around, plucked Jiraiya off his floor and bodily threw him out the window.

"I'm too old for this shit…" Sarutobi moaned.

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XXX

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Sometime during the week several things happened. Sakura and Ino found out that Kakashi had taken Sasuke to be trained personally. Chouji was hospitalized because he overate, and Shikamaru got into a fight with Gaara of the Sand.

That particular event was indeed scarring for the lazy genin. However, somehow Shikamaru had managed to avoid being massacred and stalled the redhead long enough for Guy to appear. Since Gaara was after blood, namely Rock Lee's, it had been trouble getting the dangerous genin to back down even with a jounin present.

Eventually, though, Gaara removed himself from the hospital and Shikamaru was able to breathe easy, until he was reminded by a pleased Guy that he'd have his chance to 'avenge' Lee in the finals. That, of course, made the lazy genin pale and dread what was to come.

And so, time passes.

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XXX

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The chunin stadium was a-buzz with activity. From the early morning hours delegates from all across the elemental nations appeared to see the best and brightest chunin hopefuls of every ninja village. Among those that had come was the Sand Village's Kazekage, and various other feudal lords, including the Fire Daimyo.

Civilians had also packed into the stands, piling in for a variety of reasons, but for most it was one reason: to see children beat the utter living crap out of each other. Particularly, the Leaf Village was interested in seeing Sasuke Uchiha murder Gaara of the Sand and any other genin that got in his way. It was a good way to shepherd inter-village peace.

Most of the combatants had gathered for the finals, all filing out into the arena. Such faces were Temari of the Sand, Gaara of the Sand, Kankuro of the Sand, Neji Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, and Shikamaru Nara. There were a few missing faces, which included everyone's favorite, "Sasuke", and underdog, "Naruto." Curiously, though, when Shikamaru questioned where Dosu, the lone sound ninja that had been scheduled to fight in the arena was, the protector replied that he had been removed from the list.

This could be because of a variety of reasons, but under close examination Shikamaru decided that the sound nin was either dead or disqualified from the finals. Eventually, though, the lazy ninja decided it was just too troublesome to think about it and settled back to wait for the last two remaining combatants.

Since it was only 7:55 AM both Sasuke and Naruto had exactly five minutes to get to the stadium or they would be disqualified. As the minutes ticked by every civilian and every delegation began to get a bit antsy. Many were anxious to see the childhood psychopaths began slaughtering each other, but a good majority of the audience just wanted to see the holy Uchiha take an ass beating to the other genin.

At 7:57 AM Sakura Haruna turned to her friend, Ino Yamanaka and hissed, "Where are they?"

"I'm sure they'll be here," Ino told her friend encouragingly, "I mean, Sasuke has Kakashi to make sure he gets here, and Naruto wouldn't miss this for the world."

"Yeah but," Sakura was kneading her bottom lip with her teeth, "Sasuke HAS Kakashi watching over him, and you don't know Kakashi. And Naruto is, well, NARUTO!" she deadpanned. Ino sweat dropped.

"I'm sure they'll be here," Kurenai supplied next to them, not taking her eyes off the arena and trying to find any hide or hair of the missing genin, "I mean, this is pretty important, so I don't think even Kakashi would be late for this, and Naruto IS Naruto."

"But you don't know Scarecrow like I do," Anko told her friend with a mischievous glint in her eyes, "I bet twenty that Kakashi will still show up three hours late even with Sasuke riding shotgun with him."

"Anko-chan?" Kurenai asked.

"Yes, Nai-chan?" Anko replied.

"What's a shotgun?"

"Shh, someone's coming!" Sakura shouted enthusiastically. And she was right. Someone had, indeed, walked right onto the arena floor. The eyes of many trailed after the cloaked figure.

"Sasuke or Naruto?" Genma Shiranui questioned as the cloaked figure, male from the size and shape, stopped before him.

"Naruto," but it didn't sound like Naruto. The voice was rough and deep, like if the person had stopped speaking for years after going through puberty. Further, the height and mass of the person under the cloak was all wrong. Naruto was never that tall or powerfully built. This person _couldn't _be Naruto.

"I'm sorry, sir, but if you are neither Naruto nor Sasuke please step out of the arena," Genma told the man pretending to be Naruto. A flash of gold underneath the hood caught the tokubetsu jounin's eye. Then something great and heavy pushed down on his shoulders. Genma's eyes widened as he felt this sensation. It was almost as if he had stepped into a raging inferno, only the burning sensation was replaced with the cool, cruel sensation of death gripping his throat. Pure malevolence spewed off the man's body, rolling down his shoulders and washing over the stadium. Unbridled fury and uncontrollable violence vied for supremacy, spreading images of death and torture and pure horror into each and everyone's minds.

This was not an isolated event. Nearly everyone in the stadium felt the cold grip of death gripping at their throat and hearts. The sheer suffocating power that the man spewed in cascading waves upon the civilians was enough to drive one mad. Pure evil stood, calmly staring at Genma down in the stadium, seemingly ignoring everything that was happening. A few of the weaker minded civilians even collapsed in a cold faint. Almost in a single instant the cloaked man had put nearly every ninja in the stadium and around the village on guard, which, unfortunately fouled the plans of the Sound village as the Leaf Village noticed the ninja surrounding their village and immediately began working against them.

Up in the observation booth where the Hokage sat with the Kazekage observing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt sweat begin beading his brow. Whatever that man in the arena was, he definitely wasn't human. Sarutobi had only felt such similar feelings of death and pure, uncontrolled violence when he had encountered the Tailed Beasts and their Jailors. Even the Nine Tails was a pale imitation to this! Just the very presence of the man made the Hokage feel slightly wobbly, as if he could barely stand in the man's mere presence. Sarutobi could see that this was a likewise similar reaction that the Kazekage was facing, the man in the Kage robes shuddering in either horror or ecstasy wasn't discernible, but for his own sanity Sarutobi settled on horror.

"By the gods," the Kazekage gasped in alarm, or was that glee, "who is that man?"

Such a simple question, but it was mirrored in the thoughts of everyone standing there in the stadium that day.

"Do you doubt me, _human_?" Genma's heart nearly leapt into his throat. The shadows hung over the man's face, blocking him from view, but Genma would swear time and again when he told of this story that in a brief, passing moment the shadows parted to reveal cruel, golden eyes. They were the eyes of the devil.

Genma tried forming proper speech, but all that came out was a wheezing gust of air as he had forgotten to breath. Something glinted in the shadows underneath the cloaked man's cowl, startling white and utterly sharp.

Faster than any person in the audience could catch, the cloaked man ripped the clipboard out of Genma's hands. The man examined it for but a moment before the clipboard was shoved forcefully back into the tokubetsu jounin's stunned hands.

"Tell the old man that I, Naruto Uzumaki, have arrived," the cloaked man hissed in a voice that would stand nothing but complete obedience. Genma dumbly turned and headed in the direction of the stairs, still too stunned to even think about Body Flickering out of the arena.

It was 7:59 AM as Genma left the arena. If the finals were postponed, it wouldn't be because Naruto had arrived late.

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XXX

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"Yes, yes, what is it, Genma?" Sarutobi asked somewhat distractedly. It was only somewhat because the Third Hokage had his eyes still on the arena, but could still guess what was happening from having seen the brief, intense attrition between Genma and the unknown, cloaked man.

"Sir, the man who has entered into the arena is claiming to be one of the combatants and is requesting that we let him take part in the finals," Genma told the legendary Kage. Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. However, an odd feeling made him turn his head back to the arena, and when he did he could see that the cloaked man had his head turned towards the observation booth that was reserved for Kages. Staring into the dark shadows that hid the man's face made the aged shinobi slightly unnerved, even more so by the fact that he was uncomfortable with the man's presence to begin with. For a brief, split second, Hiruzen thought he saw a flash of gold, and then the sight was hidden by shadow once more.

"Who is he claiming to be?" Sarutobi turned his attention back to Genma, already knowing that he shouldn't have asked that question from the strained expression that the tokubetsu genin wore. It was a face that he hadn't wore since he found out that Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, Genma's old captain, had died.

"He's…claiming to be Naruto Uzumaki, sir," Sarutobi turned back to the arena, fighting a headache.

"He can't possibly believe that we'd fall for that," Sarutobi said quietly, but Genma heard anyways.

"Perhaps he intends to fight us if we resist," Genma offered. Then lowly, he said, "He doesn't seem the type to let well enough alone and take a hint."

"Indeed," Sarutobi said, sighing. "Call the anbu."

"Hokage-sama," Sarutobi turned to see that it was the Kazekage who had addressed him. The man was leaning awfully close to the balcony that separated them from falling to the ground floor and possibly (though not likely) injuring their selves. Sarutobi couldn't decide if the look that the man wore was either gleefully anxious, or horrifically constipated. For his sanity, Sarutobi decided not to venture onto either one of those thoughts. "I'd like to see what this man can do."

"Go on," Hiruzen told the man. He liked to think of himself as a hospitable host. If the Kazekage could give him enough reason to include the man into the finals then he might be persuaded into letting him join.

"Well, suppose he IS the boy that you are denying he is, and was just astonishingly changed in the month of time since the last part of the examines," Sarutobi didn't feel like mentioning that the boy looked the same the week previous and the change into what the man looked like was too drastic a change to happen in over a week. "Or, better, suppose that he is a different person then the boy he is claiming to be, and the Leaf Village was to support him in the chunin examines. If he turned out to be powerful, wouldn't that be a boon for your village?" Sarutobi stared at the Kazekage in silent suspicion.

"And just why doesn't the Sand Village sponsor him then?" Sarutobi questioned, "If you want to see him in this tournament so badly then why don't you offer your support."

The Kazekage waved dismissively, as if the suspicious tone in the Hokage's voice was a minor concern, saying, "Well, it's not like 'we're' the ones holding the chunin examines this time around, is it? Since it is your village you hold full sway on what goes on in this village, including the events of the chunin examines. It would be natural for you to accept responsibility for this man if he was admitted into the finals."

Tricky, Sarutobi thought with narrowed eyes, like a snake.

Eventually Sarutobi decided to let his suspicions go for the moment, saying, "Allowing a random ninja, or gods forbid, _civilian_ take part in the finals wouldn't show us as exactly being very sportsmen-like. No, it would be better if this man didn't take place in this tournament."

"Mou, mou, I must ask you to please reconsider this, Hokage-sama. Now looking upon this man, I have a feeling that he's pretty powerful. I want to see what he's capable of," the Kazekage said.

Sarutobi examined the man in suspicious light once more, asking, "And why would you want that? With less ninja in the tournament there's more of a chance your children will win and show that they are capable of becoming chunin. Why would you want to give them competition?"

Once more the Kazekage dismissed this, easily, saying, "My, my, I'm just so excited to see Gaara fight in the ring and finally prove himself to the world that I can't help wanting to see him battle strong ninja. Further, the more fights that my children fight, the more they can show off their skills and why they deserve to be chunin, don't you think, Hokage-sama?" the Kazekage asked. Sarutobi nodded at the excellent point that the Kazekage gave.

Still, there was something…sinister about the Kazekage that the Hokage couldn't quite place…

"Uh, sirs," Genma spoke up now, bringing the attention back to him, "I hate to break up your debate, but we have a tournament to host and it looks like the crowd is getting agitated. Can we please come to a decision?" Indeed, it looked as if they crowd was a bit antsy. Most were shouting and booing at the children and one adult in the arena, and some were even shouting at the Kages and Daimyo's to get their tails in gear. Seems like this crowd was an especially blood thirsty lot.

"Very well," Hiruzen Sarutobi decided, "the man may join the finals. Let him know that the Leaf Village sponsors him for these battles, but that he will not become a chunin unless he can provide proof that he is who he says he is. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Genma saluted. Then with a quick Body Flicker the tokubetsu jounin returned to the arena.

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XXX

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"Alright, listen up," Genma told the man as he reappeared into the arena. The cloak wearing man tilted his head to show that he was listening, but didn't offer a word. "The Hokage and Kazekage are gracefully allowing you to enter the tournament despite obviously not being who you say you are. Of course, don't think this means you'll become a chunin. If you want to become a chunin then you have to provide proof that you are who you say you are, and THEN the judges will decide if you will become chunin, understood?" Genma questioned.

"Yes."

"Good," Genma nodded. Then, he asked, "What name do you want to be entered under?"

"Naruto is fine," the man answered. Gold flickered briefly into view, along with a sharp pair of brilliantly white teeth, and then they faded into shadows again.

"All right, well, I guess that settles that!" Genma exclaimed, finally glad to be over with all that nonsense. "Anyways," now Genma directed his words to the whole group, "you'll each fight in the order of the numbers you drew during the preliminaries. This means that Neji and 'Naruto' will fight first, since 'Naruto' is taking the real Naruto's spot," the cloak wearing man twitched, "then Gaara and Sasuke; after that will be Shino and Kankuro, and finally Temari and Shikamaru."

"Man," Shikamaru moaned, "so troublesome."

"Who you calling troublesome, loser!" Temari shouted, getting into the boy's face. She was on a hair trigger already, for some, strange reason.

"Women," Shikamaru supplied, as if he didn't have a dangerous kunoichi staring him in the face.

Just as the two looked to be about ready to come to blows the protector stepped in, saying, "Cut it out you two. Save it for the arena. You'll have your match soon enough." Temari huffed and stepped back.

"Anyways, I have to ask that anyone besides Neji and 'Naruto' head to the stairway to the waiting area. You'll be able to see the others matches and rest and formulate strategies from there," Genma told the group, "Now," he said, looking annoyed, "scram!"

The group of genin, would-be chunin shuffled out of the arena and up the stairway. This left only three people in the arena; Genma, Neji, and "Naruto."

"First match!" Genma shouted up into the stands, "Neji!" he pointed to Neji, "vs 'Naruto'!" and here he pointed at the cloaked man.

The whole stadium fell silent at this announcement. Genma instantly did a body flicker out of the arena to stand in the waiting room with the other genin. He watched emotionlessly as the two genin stood off against each other.

Not a soul moved. Neither "boy" so much as blinked. Neji stared back at Naruto and Naruto stared back at Neji, seemingly unfazed.

Up in the stands, Ino asked, "Did he say 'Naruto'?" she made air quotes.

"Shush girls, it looks like they're about to start," Kurenai told the two girls. Back in the arena Neji had begun making gestures with his hands and talking hurriedly.

Back in the arena, Neji opened his pre battle taunt by saying, "Why don't you just give up? Fate has already decided me as the victor."

"Is that so?" the cloaked man didn't seem to be amused by the Hyuuga's words, but then again, he didn't seem to take offense to them either. He was just asking a simple question.

Taking his question as a sign of anger, Neji began again, "Of course. These eyes of mine can see all, and they see that you, a random man seeking fame a glory, could not dare to hope that you could match me, a Hyuuga's superior might, even if you attempt to fill the shoes of the dead last. In fact, it is BECAUSE of that reason that you will not win."

"I see," the man said, seemingly ignoring the taunt. "So basically, this 'Fate' shit is a crutch?"

"You could not possibly understand! You, a simpleton who believes that fate is what you make of it; you couldn't possibly understand the tragedy of the Hyuuga clan! You couldn't possibly understand the black mark that has lain secret to the civilians." Neji rejected the man's words immediately.

"Oh? I think you are mistaken," the man told him, sounding unimpressed, "I know perfectly well that you've suffered a 'tragedy' sometime in your past and to cope with it you've had to shrug off your insecurities and place blame on someone else's shoulders. This Fate crap is just an excuse you tell yourself to try and cope with your own insecurities and baggage."

"SILENCE!" Neji shouted, looking furious. "You, a dog of impure blood cannot know of how the main branch of the Hyuuga clan has subjugated and enslaved, us, the branch family for generations! You cannot know what it is like to have an unclean seal on your person, damning you from the moment you were born!" Neji took a breath, intending to finish his little temper tantrum, but a fist to his mouth stopped him from speaking any further.

Neji was knocked clean on his back. Blinking owlishly up at the sky, the boy tried to make sense of what happened. Then a shadow loomed over him, and golden, piercing eyes stared out at him from under a veil of shadow.

"You're wrong, you little shit, I know perfectly well what it is like…" and then the man reached up to grab a fist full of his cloak and ripped it clean off his body.

* * *

XXX

* * *

Silence had settled over the stadium; every eye wide and every person staring in shock down at the arena. A few people began to murmur quietly in shock, two words that were spoken of in awe and horror, directed at the sight before them. These words were…

"Fourth Hokage," Kurenai gasped in a mixture of surprise and awe.

"It couldn't be, could it?" Sakura asked, and despite the fact that she was whispering it the words were heard easily in the deafly quiet stadium. "I mean, he's _supposed_ to be dead."

"No, it's not the Fourth," Anko was leaning forwards on her seat, eyes wide and an expression of quiet anticipation on her face. When she didn't immediately follow up her words with a proper explanation Kurenai nudged her.

"What is it, Anko?" Kurenai asked her friend. A small, vicious, "I know something you don't" grin claimed the other woman's face, startling Kurenai at the fierceness displayed by the woman.

"Isn't it obvious? It's the kid," she didn't take her eyes from the arena as she said this, still staring steadfastly down at the two combatants. Sakura and Ino turned to her, wide eyed.

"It can't be Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed, looking alarmed, "Naruto doesn't look so…terrifying!"

"Or hot, but them's the facts, kids," Anko chirped easily, watching as Neji slowly climbed to his feet.

"But how's that possible! It's only been a mouth!" Ino waved her hands wildly, nearly shouting, "How could something like this happen in such a short amount of time?"

"Don't know," Anko growled. She flicked her eyes to the two girls and hissed, "Now shut it."

Sakura and Ino were left to star, gob-mouthed at the two women whose soul attentions were on the battle playing out on the field. The whir of murmuring brought their attention back to the arena. It looked like Neji was talking hurriedly, and the other man that looked like the Fourth Hokage was mostly ignoring the spite Neji's words no doubt had.

The Neji rushed forwards with an open palm strike.

* * *

XXX

* * *

2 Minutes Ago: Arena

* * *

XXX

* * *

Climbing slowly to his feet, Neji kept an eye on the man. Now that the man no longer was wearing his cloak his true form could been easily seen. A sense of caution settled over the Hyuuga child, as if he had accidently stepped into a bed of snakes, or walked into the den of a lion. Nursing his jaw, Neji tried to avoid eye contact with the man, feeling ill at ease looking at the man's golden eyes.

"Like I said, boy," the golden eyed man snarled, looking to be at the edge of madness. His wild, blonde hair and the strange voodoo markings under and above his eyes, looking like two slash marks, hinted at a much, darker, violent side. It was the whisker marks on the man's face that drew Neji's attention. "I know perfectly well what it's like to possess a seal on one's body." Then the man patted his flat, washboard abs, drawing Neji's attention away from his whisker marks and to his naval.

"Is that?" Neji questioned, surprise and dawning realization catching up to him. The man nodded.

"Yes, a seal," of course the man didn't exemplify what the seal was meant for, but having a seal on your person at all was never a good thing. Neji grimaced as his thoughts worked in a spiral, thinking of reasons why the man would have a seal placed on him.

Curiously enough, the seal that lay stretched across his stomach was that of a spiral, kanji circling around the man's naval and developing more symbols and shapes that were a clear indication of the sheer complexity and power of the seal. Neji studied it for but a moment, before dismissing the seal with a causal wave of his hand.

"It doesn't matter if you've suffered under a seal or not," Neji told the man, "You were Fated to lose to me, here, right now. Whatever has lead up to this moment is meaningless," the boy told the much taller man. The golden eyed man scoffed.

"More of this Fate crap? Haven't I already told you I don't give a shit about your sob story?" the man heaved a mighty yawn, holding a hand to his mouth. Neji's eye twitched at the casual way the man dismissed him.

"Silence! You can't know the horror I've lived, of being enslaved to my own family and having to watch my father be murdered by the hypocrisy of the main branch!" Neji shouted. The man tilted his head, poking a finger into his ear and removing any ear wax. Then, he lightly flicked whatever he had collected off, seemingly mindless to the boy's mounting fury.

"Like I said, I couldn't care less. You're just a piece of shit little _boy_ who is too busy crying about his problems to do anything about them. Fucking emo," the man responded, finally.

"Fuck you!" Neji roared. Then, quick as lightning the boy charged forward, extending a hand to deliver an open palmed thrust into the man's torso. Instead of dodging the man took the hit with only a minor grunt of annoyance.

Neji launched another palm forwards, impacting the man's shoulder, following up with two palm strikes to the gut and a final one to the lungs. Finally, the boy spun on his right ankle and whipped a kick into the man's side, knocking the man clear across the arena.

Neji grinned savagely, suddenly feeling strangely empowered. He basked in the feeling, reveling in the satisfaction that he had put a piece of trash in their place. After a moment he turned to the protector and said, "You can call the fight. He's not going to get –"

Laughter…

Three voices cascaded together to form a haunting harmony. One voice was that of the golden eyed man that Neji had just punted across the arena. The second voice belonged to a woman's voice, sweet and seductive. And finally, the last voice belonged to an older man, rich and deep. The voices blended together, as if they were one voice rather than three, spilling over the stadium and calling upon the deepest, darkest recesses of the soul. Fear, rage, sorrow, envy, lust, all of these emotions and more were evoked upon who ever listened to these voices laugh their mad laughter. It was the sound of death, so sure and so cruel, marching forwards to claim he who had tempted the beast.

Up in the stands, Anko was leaning dangerously close to the ledge, her hands gripping the bars blocking her from falling so white from strain that they seemed to be molded from marble. Her face was etched in a look of maniac ecstasy, frightening Kurenai who was looking between the woman and the arena.

From beside the two jounin the two genin kunoichi, Sakura and Ino, stared wide eyed, faces like ash. Fear gripped at their hearts as the laughter called forth everything that they had tried to deny since they had decided to be "big girls" to their minds. In that very instant the two girls knew that the monster under their beds, and the one in the closet, and the one scratching on their windows, and even the one on the shadow of the moon at night were all so very real. And that they were all the same creature.

This thought was mirrored by many civilians as they experienced their own horror induced revelations. From further down the seats Rock Lee curled into himself, whimpering. From beside him, Guy Might, his sensei, stared in abject horror, pale faced. Next to them their team mate Tenten gripped the seat so tightly that it actually cracked from under the intense pressure, fear for Neji gripping her heart.

Down even further Kiba was being comforted by his dog, Akumaru, the boy's hair having turned silver like his dog's fur. Next to him, Hinata watched in a mixture of speculation and hope, somehow able to ignore the terrifying laughter as her eyes looked beyond Neji.

In the waiting area Shino pushed up his glass, cold sweat beading his forehead. Shikamaru was wide eyed, mumbling a concessive chorus of "troublesome's" over and over again as if that would save him. Next to the Leaf ninja Temari and Kankuro were pale and shaking, the maniacal laughter bringing back memories of when their younger brother, Gaara would go off on his killing sprees.

Gaara observed all this with a strange expression of ecstasy on his face, demented words spilling from his lips in return to the murderous laughter that assaulted his ears.

Finally, in the Hokage booth, both Sarutobi and the Kazekage shuddered with each breath of laughter that was expelled out. Something in their very core told them to run, and run very, very, _very_ far away. They suddenly knew that they did not want to face whatever this was, hoping to never come across it in a dark alley.

A shadow loomed up behind Neji.

* * *

XXX

* * *

"Agh!" Neji shouted, slamming into the stadium's wall, hard enough to jar his bones. The boy blinked, slowly standing, dizzy and confused. A powerful hand gripped the back of his collar and yanked him off his feet. Neji cried out in pain as he was slammed into the ground, his head hitting the ground with a meaty twack!

"**GOoD – wE cAN FeEL tHE rAGe InSIdE YOu. LEt iT CoNsUME YoU. LEt iT dEfINe yOU! YoU aRe oNE wITh tHe BeASt!**" Neji screamed, unable to defend himself as his attacker proceeded to beat his head into the ground, smashing his skull into the dirt again and again until his face was bloody.

Suddenly, rage coursed through the boy's body, fueling his limbs. A scream tore itself from his throat as the boy lashed out with his hand, digging his fingers into flesh. There was no indication that his attack had hurt the Beast, no grunt or scream or anything to denote that it had felt pain, but his attacker released him anyways.

"FUCK YOU!" Neji screamed, tearing himself from the ground and charging. Blinded by blood and rage, he didn't know who he was attacking, could only see a blurry image. Still, he lashed out anyways, fury and bloodlust vying for supremacy in his psyche.

A hand gripped his wrist, claws cutting deep into the tender flesh of his arm. Neji screamed as the Beast wrenched his arm behind his back. He choked as a hand grabbed his wind pipe, cutting off air circulation. Neji clutched at the hand with his free arm, confusion and rage bleeding together to numb his fingertips. Then pain joined it as the Beast pulled his arm up further then his body was intended to go, painfully wrenching the arm out of socket and making the boy scream in pain.

"**iS tHIs aLL yOu ARe caPaBlE oF? sHoW uS yOuR RaGE, yOuR HaTREd! fEEd tHe BeAST!"** the Beast snarled into his ear. Neji screamed, a hand reaching back to jam a jyuken covered finger into a soft eye. The Beast snarled and Neji was suddenly free.

Even before he knew what he was doing he was spinning and launching a kick into the Beast's exposed stomach. However, the monster ignored it and threw a fist into the boy's cheek. Neji screamed, blood, spittle, and the last of his baby teeth flying freely as he was thrown across the arena, toppling end over end.

Neji weakly looked up, seeing the blurry shape of the Beast approaching. Golden eyes peered down at him, a cruel smirk spreading over a handsome face. Neji knew in that instance that he was going to die.

"**sUCh wONdERfUlL fEAr!**" malevolent laughter spilled from vicious lips. A mouth opened, exposing deadly, white fangs. Neji whimpered, turning onto his stomach and attempting to crawl away.

"**nO! nO rUNNinG! fUN, fUn, FuN!**" a scream was torn from the boy's throat as a foot came crashing down on his right leg. Suddenly, a loud crack split the air, followed by the boy's whimpers.

"S-stop," Neji pleaded. The Beast kicked him in the ribs, making him roll across the ground where he lay, unmoving.

"**nO taLKinG! hUNgrY nOW!**" cruel laughter echoed across the stadium. Everyone watched on in horror as the Beast cackled, shouting, "**mORe fLEsH fOR tHE BeAST!"**

* * *

XXX

* * *

The man was screaming now. It was sort of a mix between a laugh and a shriek. His claws were digging into his skull, long trails of black blood trailing down his face, falling to the ground. With each drop of black blood on the ground the earth sizzled, as if the blood was like acid. The man's voice was rising in pitch, together with two other voices, one female and one male. The man was shaking his head, flinging blood everywhere. Genma, having arrived with the purpose to see what was ailing the man, hissed in pain as a speckle of black blood splashed his cheeks.

"What the hell is going on?" Genma asked. This question was mirrored by everyone in the stadium, be they ninja or civilian. Each and every person was watching the man mutilate himself in a state of half shock and half morbid fascination.

"**BloOd, TinKLe, tINkle. sO mUCh BLoOD!**" the man broke into mad laughter, clawing at his chest and raking bloody trails across his skin. He threw his head back and grinned at the sky, a sort of half-mocking, half-mad expression. He chortled, snapping teeth and directed his gaze to Genma now.

"**huMAN,**" he growled. The violent expression that he wore on his face made the tokubetsu jounin take a cautious step back, alarmed by the madness shining in his eyes. But it was the man's voice that had stopped Genma from attacking right out. The man's two male voices had been nearly overpowered by the woman's voice.

"Y-yeah?" Genma asked, uncertain. The man lashed out and caught Genma by the collar, pulling him nearly face to face. Gold and gray stared into each other, and for a moment Genma swore that he was looking into hell.

"**nOIse – so mUCh nOIse! bLoOD! aND saND! sOMeONe wILl dIE toDAy!**" Genma tensed up at this, alarmed by the man's warning, but before he could question him the man tossed him aside and grabbed at his head.

The man was screaming again. Actually, it was more of a howl. It sounded painful, but despite this the man's odd, three voices echoed laughter, so haunting that Genma nearly wet himself. The man was clawing at his head again, tearing bloody lines into his cheeks and skull. The man jerked wildly away from Genma and took a staggering step towards the doors to the stadium.

"**sO hUNgRY!**" the man roared, buckling and snarling at the audience. Everyone in the first row of seats fainted and the following three rows unfortunately lost control of their bowels and bladders at the same time. Madness shined in the man's eyes, and for those members of the audience that could remember this moment in the following years would swear that the man was looking into their souls and judging every one of them.

Then, suddenly, the man gave another violent howl, and a fissure opened up beneath the man. From this fissure a torrent of black blood spewed into the heavens, consuming the man and carrying him up with it. Up and up the fountain of blood continued, pushing further into the sky, and eventually the blood geyser reached such a height that it could be seen at the edge of town. And still it continued heavenwards. Eventually the geyser reached such proportions that it dwarfed the Hokage Monument. Then, at last, everything stopped.

Instead of raining back down to the earth the monstrously tall blood fountain remained, in the exact same position, at its apex in the heavens. From all across the village civilians and ninja alike stopped to look at the black blood clawing at the heavens. Even the sound and leaf ninja having war in the Leaf village's surrounding forests stopped what they were doing for but a moment to look, marveling at the sight.

And then, quite suddenly, the black blood was spreading across the sky, rising up out of the earth to blanket the village. People screamed, fearing whatever was the cause of this phenomenon. A doomsayer in the village looked up to the sky and screamed, "THE END IS NEIGH!"

Kurenai looked to Anko, seeing that the woman was still looking in the direction of the spot where the madman that had fought Neji had disappeared into the heavens. The woman wore a look of rapture, her eyes drinking in the sight of the black blood swallowing the sky. Grabbing her friend's arm, the red eyed woman shook her and screamed, "Anko! We have to get out of here!"

Anko's head snapped to look at Kurenai and she hissed, "**NEVER!**" the voice that she spoke with wasn't her own, and startled Kurenai enough to let go of her friend.

"Kurenai-sensei, c-c-can we p-please leave?" Ino asked her eyes wide and face paler then a ghost. From beside her Sakura was curled in a ball on her seat, whimpering pitifully and trying to ignore the chaos happening around them.

"Just a moment, girls," Kurenai told the young genin, before turning her attention back to her oldest friend.

"Listen, Anko, REALLY listen," Kurenai told her friend. Anko had turned her attention back to the sight of the black blood covering the sky, her expression appearing more as if she was waiting for the coming of god then whatever demonic forces were at work here. "I know that for some reason you seem to think that this is a good thing, Anko, but it REALLY isn't. Whatever is doing this to the sky is NOT something you want to wait around for. Whatever it is will mostly definitely be BAD. Like, end of the world BAD. So, please, Anko, snap out of it and help me!" Kurenai was near shouting at the end.

"Nai-chan?" Kurenai asked, looking to her friend in confusion, "What's going on?"

"Oh, thank the gods," Kurenai briefly hugged her friend, and the two climbed to their feet. "I can't talk right now. Now we have to worry about getting as many people to safety as we can. Will you be okay?"

"I think so," Anko scratched her cheek, wincing at all the chaos around her. It was SO noisy! "Why?" Anko asked, looking to Kurenai again, "did something happen?"

"Never mind that," Kurenai waved away her friends concerns and turned her attention to Sakura and Ino. Kneeling next to the two genin the older kunoichi asked, "Can you two walk?"

Sakura whimpered, and Ino decided to answer for them both. "Yeah…"

"Good," Kurenai sighed, "Now I want you both to take as many people as you can to the evacuation tunnels, understand me? Iruka will be there and you'll be able to escape whatever is coming!" she explained to them.

"Yeah," Ino responded, looking unsure. However, she gathered herself and settled down next to her friend, saying, "Sakura, we got to go."

"Where's mommy?" Ino looked concerned. Kurenai's eyes widened.

"Change of plans, Ino," Kurenai said, breaking the girl from her examination of her friend, "Sakura's suffered a mental breakdown and regressed to a child mindset. She's no good to anyone right now. I need you to take her to the evac tunnels as fast as you can. Stop for nothing, understand?"

"Yes sensei," Ino responded immediately. She then took Sakura by the hand and gently said, "She's probably already in the evacuation tunnels. Why don't we go find her?" Sakura looked up to her friend. She nodded, unsure.

"Okay," Sakura said. Ino sighed. The two friends climbed to their feet.

"Okay, goodbye now, sensei. Good luck," Ino told Kurenai and Anko.

"Good luck," Kurenai said. Immediately the two young girls were hurrying out of the area.

"Good, so you're done with your chit chat now, so how about helping me!" Anko shouted to Kurenai, while fighting off two sound ninja and sand ninja with her summoned snakes.

"What the hell is going on?" Kurenai shouted over the panicked noise still circling through the stadium.

"How the hell should I know? I was busy watching you babysitting a bunch of brats, then the next thing I knew I was being assaulted by these fuckers," Anko tossed a kunai and one of the men screamed girlishly as she decided to do some trimming. "I've been waiting all this time for you to hurry up and back me up!"

"Sorry, Anko," Kurenai sighed. She immediately began doing the hand signs for her genjutsu, ensnaring a few of the sound and sand ninja. She easily went about removing certain important parts of their anatomy that was needed for them to function, while also trying to survey what else was going on around them.

"Leaf Entry!" shouted a voice, and one of the jounin that was proving to be a bit tougher to ensnare with her genjutsu was easily crushed by a drop kick. After a quick flip, the person responsible for dispensing pain on the sound ninja landed on the same floor as them, and it turned out that this person was Guy Might.

"I don't know what's going on here, but no one can compete with the power of my youth!" Guy shouted enthusiastically. Then he turned away from Kurenai and Anko who was just wrapping up her own battles. "Lee! Do you think you'll be able to make it to the evacuation tunnels?" he shouted to his student.

"Of course sensei!" the reply was immediate. Lee appeared down the rows of seats, somehow managing to avoid being injured even worse by all the civilians trying to escape the stadium. Suddenly, a sound ninja dropped into the row next to the boy, rushing towards the injured boy.

"Die!" the sound ninja roared.

"Jyuken!" someone dropped upon the ninja.

"Hinata!" Kurenai shouted in surprise and awe as the young Hyuuga child easily wounded the ninja. Then with a sharp kick the girl knocked the ninja off his feet.

Hinata paused only momentarily to look back at her sensei, and Kurenai started in alarm as the eyes looking back at her were not her student's eyes. In fact, they were so completely un-Hinata-like that Kurenai felt she was looking at a completely different person. A quiet calm and violence nestled deeply in the girl's eyes, hiding something dark that took the rookie jounin's breath away. Then Hinata was turning, bounding off through the stadium. Even after she had disappeared from her sensei's sight, Kurenai could still hear the loud cries of "Jyuken!" accompanied by loud screams of pain.

"Shit. That girl is one nucking futs chick," Anko said from beside Kurenai. Kurenai didn't pay her friend any mind, still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she had just watched Hinata, HER Hinata, literally walk on ninja much older and more skilled then her as if they were nothing.

"Sensei!" a masculine voice shouted. Kurenai turned, and much to her surprise she found Kiba running up to her from down the rows.

"What's going on?" Kiba immediately asked as soon as he was standing in front of his sensei.

"I don't know," Kurenai admitted. However, she turned her eyes to Rock Lee who was still trying to limp up the staircase, "However, can you take Lee to the evacuation tunnels. Whatever is going on isn't good and I want you to help as many people as you can find get to the evacuation tunnels. Understand?" she questioned with hard eyes, trying to relay how serious a situation this was.

"Of course sensei," but then Kiba seemed to think of something and asked, "Sensei, have you seen Hinata? She was right by me until all this craziness happened, then she just suddenly disappeared," he looked downcast as he admitted; "I think someone might have kidnapped her."

"Oh, don't worry about her. She's just off being Xena on anyone that gets in her way, so you shouldn't worry about it," Anko laughed. Kiba perked up at this.

"Anko?" Kurenai asked.

"Yes, Nai-chan," Anko replied.

"Who is Xena?"

There was an explosion off in the distance and Kurenai thought better of continuing this train of thought. She turned to Kiba and shouted, "What are you waiting for! Go!" Kiba grunted, and turned to Lee.

"Let's hurry up, man. I need to get out of here and look for Hinata," Lee nodded in acceptance. Kiba grabbed the older boy by the arm and began leading him up the stairs.

"Hold on!" Kurenai raised an eyebrow when a girl came running up to the two boys. From the looks of it she appeared to be Lee's other teammate, Tenten. The girl spoke hurriedly with the two boys before Kiba traded Lee's arm to Tenten, which the girl accepted quickly. Then she began heading off in the general direction of the evacuation tunnels.

"There, sensei," Kiba told her, looking smug, "Tenten's going to take Lee to the evac tunnels. This means we can go look for Hinata!" he sounded excited. He sure looked excited.

Anko snorted. "Not happening, kid."

Even as the boy looked to be about ready to explode the purple haired jounin was saying, "We're in the middle of an unknown battle situation. Everyone's fighting and defending the village, and we've got enemies from sound, sand, and a third, unknown source," she jerked her head in the direction of the sky, seemingly having noticed it something since she and Kurenai had gotten into this mess. "So it's not like we can mount a search for your missing friend, especially since she looked to be doing fine all by herself. So either you go look for her by yourself or no one does, because I certainly ain't lifting a finger to do so. C'mon Kurenai, we need to clear out this stadium before looking for the Hokage."

Kurenai nodded at her friend's words. Turning to Kiba she said, "I'm charging you with finding and protecting Hinata. Think of this as a mission. I'm placing full responsibility of her on your shoulders, you understand?"

"Yes, sensei," Kiba saluted and then took off in the direction his nose lead him to.

"Crap, ain't this just a dandy day!" Anko laughed as she toyed with two sound nins that had attacked in the time since Kurenai had talked briefly to Kiba. Kurenai sighed, and began doing hand signs again.

The black blood had reached the village's gates.

* * *

XXX

* * *

"So, Orochimaru, you were planning to use the chunin examines as a means to invade the Leaf Village?" Hiruzen Sarutobi questioned in a conversational tone. But he was anything but.

"Of course," Orochimaru stated.

"But I was originally going to attack during Sasuke's fight, but since the boy never showed up and that _man _went and called for the powers of hell," Orochimaru laughed, "I knew that I couldn't afford to waste time. Whatever is about to happen, I don't want to be here when the hand falls."

"So that wasn't one of _your_ little test subjects then," Sarutobi filed this down inside him mind, humming in thought. "Are you so certain that it's the Leaf Village that he's after?"

"Of course! Why go to all that trouble to get accepted into the chunin examines unless he had plans for the Leaf Village. Of course, I'm very sportsmen-like, so I'll let him have the Leaf Village," Orochimaru said in a tone that suggested he thought this was important, "_After_ 'I' burn it to the ground!" he laughed insanely.

The black blood was now surrounding the forest.

* * *

XXX

* * *

"What the fuck is going on!" one of the sound ninja shouted, looking around the forest in surprise and fear, "who turned out the lights?"

"It isn't one of 'your' techniques?" one of the Leaf ninja asked.

"Hell no!" a sand ninja shouted.

* * *

XXX

* * *

Hinata landed a one two palm thrust to a sand ninja's chest, the man coughing up blood and clutching his chest feebly. Then she toppled the man over and hurried onto the next. She spring boarded off the ground and tackled a female sound ninja, briefly grappled with her, before raising the ninja above her head and dropping her back on her knee.

The sound ninja's spine crunched, obviously broken. A cruel smile split Hinata's face. She tossed the woman aside and slowly stood, turning to the other sound and sand ninjas that had cautiously surrounded her, wary of her every movement.

Suddenly, the sound of a gong crashing exploded across the night covered village. Hinata briefly closed her eyes, and when she opened them again they had turned golden.

"**iT's TiMe**," and then she stalked forwards, like a leopardess about to pounce.

* * *

XXX

* * *

All the ninja in the stadium stopped moving at the same time. The Hokage and Orochimaru paused in their battle to puzzle over the strange noise. And in the stadium Kurenai looked thoughtfully up at the sky.

"What the hell is that?" Kurenai questioned. She looked over to Anko, but paused when she saw that the purple haired woman was shaking, her head bowed.

When Anko raised her head her eyes had turned completely golden. A murderous smile slowly spread across her face, and when she opened her mouth Kurenai could see that Anko now possessed a set of vicious, white fangs.

"**wE aRE leGIOn,**" Anko took an experimental breath, before throwing her arms out to the sky, screaming, "**fOR wE ARe mANy!**"

"**LEGION!**" several hundred voices chorused in symphony across the village. Kurenai's eyes widened as the corpses of the ninja she and Anko had just killed rose up off the ground, all possessing the same golden eyes and brilliantly white fangs that Anko now possessed.

Nearly a thousand freshly revived corpses raised their hands to the sky. Thunder roared across the heavens, though no storm cloud could be seen in the false night that was caused by the black blood. The ground heaved, as if something great and terrible was fighting its way to the surface. Kurenai rushed to the end of the stadium and looked out to the sky, wide eyed by what she saw.

Nearly every person still outside in the Leaf village looked up into the sky in wonder. Iruka, standing guard outside the evacuation tunnels nearly crapped himself as he got a look at what now lay smoldering in the heavens. Tsume and Hana paused in their pursuit of a group of sand and sound ninja to look up to the heavens in fear, before getting to the ground and entering prayer.

Shika, Chouza, and Inoichi stopped in the pummeling of a whole battalion to look up to the heavens, and Shika summed up their thoughts with one word, "Troublesome."

Jiraiya stopped making himself a snake skin wallet in time to look up and pale at the sight that greeted him. He proceeded to make a promise to the gods that if they got him out of this alive he'd never peep again. Then he berated himself for that and hoped to the gods that someone else could deal with whatever the hell it was.

Kakashi and Sasuke stopped in their slow walk to the stadiums to look up at the sight in the sky, and Kakashi eloquently stated, "We are SOOO boned."

Every sand, sound and leaf ninja in the village turned their heads to the sky, all wide eyed and pale. Each and every one thought about running, or crapping themselves, or committing suicide. And some of them decided to do all three, though not necessarily in that order.

Sarutobi and Orochimaru stopped in their fighting, Orochimaru pausing with the kunai-seals that he would use to seal the restored bodies of the First and Second Hokage's. They both looked as one to the sky and paled.

Finally, back in the stadium, now in the waiting room, Gaara looked up to the sky with an expression of blood thirst on his face. His sand immediately began spreading throughout the room, snapping at anyone it came across. Temari turned to the others in the room and shouted, "Hurry, we have to run! Gaare is losing control!" Shikamaru stuttered a "troublesome", but no one resisted as the sand siblings urged everyone out of the building.

"Mother senses a demon…no, what's this?" Gaara looked down in thought, as if having a conversation with someone only he could hear. Then he looked up at the sky with a blood thirsty grin on his face, saying "A devil? Mother will so enjoy tasting your blood!"

With the ground rolling, feeling as if the whole village was suffering a massive earthquake, the sky thundering, and everyone looking to the sky, each and every reanimated corpse raised their hands to the sky, as if in worship. From two separate places in the village both Hinata and Anko raised their own hands to the sky, as if they were welcoming an old lover.

And each and every one, from every corpse, civilian, ninja, sound, sand, or leaf, to even Anko and Hinata, they all chorused one thing.

"**LEGION!**"

Eyes made of golden fire stared down at the village with a look of ruthless cunning. And then a voice from the heavens thundered:

"**WE HUNGER FOR YOUR SOULS!**"

* * *

To Be Continued…


	2. The Devil's Mark

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or any other fictitious material included herein. The only things I own are original characters, plots, and themes covered in this story. This story was written for entertainment purposes only, and as such I have made no money off of this work. So don't sue.

* * *

**IMPORTANT! READ FIRST!**

**After the release of History Keeper and the Five Faces of Evil I decided to go for a different approach on writing fanfiction. I'm big on supporting the fanfiction community, and helping authors develop plots and character ideas for new fanfictions. As such, I'm a big supporter of challenges and plot bunnies.**

**So, I decided that any fanfiction that I write after the date of 08-22-2012 will be up for adoption. This includes any materials developed throughout the courses of the stories, from plot lines, OCs (original characters), and themes, as well. It's my hope that my stories will inspire more would-be writers and experienced writers to take on new stories.**

**Provided that anyone who adopts my stories gives credit to me being the original creator in the disclaimer, then I don't care where the stories are taken. Any materials developed by me can be taken from the stories I write that were written after the DATE of 08-22-2012, including any chapters and materials developed by me AFTER the release of this notice.**

**You may also, as the would-be writer, taken any material and ideas from me, even if you don't want to use my whole stories, provided that these ideas and materials are from stories published after the DATE of 08-22-2012.**

**Here's lists of the stories that you CAN and CANNOT use:**

**Usable Stories:**

**Devil's Due**

**History Keeper and the Five Faces of Evil**

**Unusable Stories:**

**My Super Valentine**

**Silence Falls**

**A Super Christmas**

**Dark Times**

**Legends and Lies**

**The Root of Evil**

**Halo: Exodus**

**Kaze Noil: Whispers of the Wind**

**Kaze Noil: The Defiant Wind**

**Kaze Noil: Wind Blade Turning**

**Kenpachi: Immortal Demon**

**Alternate: the Leader Unknown**

**Certain stories, like Kaze Noil, will get a reboot sometime in the near future. However, until the remake, they CANNOT be used by would-be writers wishing to use the material unless prior stated by me. To see if you can write stories based off of my older works, please PM me and I will send a reply stating if I'm okay with you using my work.**

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That being said, enjoy:

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Devil's Due

Chapter II

The Devil's Mark

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XXX

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Up above the leaf village, even further up then the Hokage Monument, a splash of color hovered in contrast to the dark sky; hidden by the darkness that surrounded it, the being drifted aimlessly through the sky. Leathery wings beat in perfect synchronization; muscles fleshing, golden eyes trained upon the village, the creature looked like the Black Angel.

A demon…

A devil…

Possibly THE Devil…

If anyone could see past all the darkness that surrounded the winged devil they would shriek their fear at such a sight. What was more, however, was that the devil was securitizing the village with a critical eye; like an artist would their own painting, or a writer would their own script. The winged devil turned and flew over the head of the Hokage Tower, hovering over the village as it took in all the destruction caused by ninja and reanimated corpses alike.

It was beautiful.

Behind the face plate that guarded the devil's face a cruel smirk spread across a handsome face hidden by shadows.

Then, silently, the devil flapped its wings and disappeared into the darkness.

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XXX

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"Anko! What's happening to you? Anko!" Kurenai shouted, trying to shake sense into her friend. The other woman pushed past he and disappeared in all the reanimated corpses. Kurenai paused, uncertain of pursuing, afraid that the corpses would attack her. However, the undead had turned the majority of their attention to hunting down the remaining sound and sand ninja, and only turned their attention to the Leaf ninja when one of said ninja attacked them. Taking a breath, Kurenai pushed into the throng of shambling corpses and began pursuing her wayward friend.

"Anko! Anko! Where are you?" Kurenai shouted as she found a break in the action. To her surprise she found Anko, alright, but the woman was in the heat of battle. Surprisingly, though, Anko wasn't using her many snake jutsu to attack the sound and sand ninja that surrounded her, and seemed perfectly capable of ripping any of them apart with her bare hands.

"Crap, crap, crap!" Kurenai immediately began making seals and hurriedly attempted to confuse the majority of the ninja surrounding her friend. Anko didn't take any notice to the delay in attacks as the men stumbled away in confusion. Instead, she rushed forwards and unleashed a barrage of kicks and punches into the closest ninja's body, many the man grunt in pain. The pain brought the man out of his confusion, and he lashed out at the snake charmer. Anko grinned, ducked under the blow, and landed a kick in between his legs.

The man's screaming was stopped when the purple haired tokubetsu jounin grabbed the sides of his skull and jerked the man's head to the side. Instantly, bones cracked loudly, making Kurenai flinch at the causal display of brutality from her friend. Even as the man was falling backwards, obviously dead, Anko was heading to the next ninja.

This time Anko grappled with the man as he came out of his genjutsu induced confusion, clutching his right arm with her hands. She proceeded to pull with everything in her muscles and succeeded in pulling the arm right off his body. The man's screaming was interrupted by Anko using the man's severed limb to whip him across the face. The man landed onto the ground, and Anko was immediately pouncing, lashing at him with the severed arm.

A cruel laughter was spilling from Anko's lips. Kurenai knew that she had just stepped into a nightmare. Even at Anko's worst she was never like…this!

"What the hell is going on?" Kurenai shouted.

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XXX

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"What the hell is going on?" Hana shouted to her mother. Tsume grunted as she dodged a couple of swipes from a sword, kicking her feet out and snapping the sound ninja's kneecaps. After a quick stomp on the man's windpipe she turned to her daughter, to see that the girl was trying to defend herself from a group of zombies that she had unfortunately tempted into attacking her.

"Heads up, Kuromaru!" Tsume immediately launched herself forwards towards the horde of attacking corpses surrounding her daughter. Pulling himself from feasting on a sand ninja's throat, her ninkin companion, Kuromaru, launched himself in tune with her.

"Fang over fang!" spanning like a top, looking more like whirlwinds then a human and a ninja dog, both Tsume and Kuromaru tore into the horde of shambling dead flesh. Blood and bits of flesh went flying as the two tore apart rotting flesh with their claws. Both Tsume and Kuromaru exited the horde of shambling dead on the other side with Tsume's daughter, Hana.

"Are you alright, Hana?" it wasn't normal for Hana to let a bunch of enemies surround her like that. And usually when the girl was having trouble with an enemy or a group of enemies then the Haimaru brothers, Hana's ninja dog partners, took care of it.

"Oh, mother," Hana wore a worried expression. In her arms she was cradling one of the Haimaru brothers. Tsume's face turned grim.

"Is he alright?" the mother asked.

"Yeah, he'll make it, but he won't be able to fight any longer," Hana told her mother. Tsume nodded. Absently, the older woman pulled back her fist and slugged a zombie that had been sneaking up on her back. The walking dead crumpled, its head exploding in a shower of gore.

"Alright, Hana," Tsume told her daughter. The concerned expression she wore told her daughter how alarmed the wild woman was by all these events. That her usual, quiet savagery had given way to worry just went to show how uneasy she was with everything.

"I want you to take the Haimaru brothers and go assist the evacuation. You'll be able to treat their wounds there," Tsume told the girl. Hana looked pensive, so the mother decided to add, "That's an order from your clan head."

After a moment of quiet contemplation, Hana gave a nod. "All right, I'll do as you –" whatever she was saying was interrupted by a loud screech. Tsume whipped around to stare wide eyed into the sky, while her daughter quickly climbed to her own feet, alarmed by whatever it was that could make that noise.

"What now?" Tsume growled. Her keen vision could easily see a dark shape drifting above in the dark sky. The mother watched as leathery wings flapped again and again, carrying a lean, muscular body further through the air and above their heads. Turning to her daughter, Tsume shouted, "What are you waiting for?"

"What are you going to do, mom?" Hana questioned. Tsume grabbed her daughter by the collar and pulled her in close so that she could show her just how serious the situation was.

"Listen to me," Tsume told the girl, leaving no room to be questioned, "whatever the hell that thing is it's definitely not on our side. I don't know what the hell it's doing here, but it can't be good. I will NOT have my only daughter be thrown into a battle with such an unknown looming over us. So you will run, get your brother, and evacuate this village with everyone else or so help me I WILL spank you, pup."

"Mom," Hana began, but Tsume silenced her.

"GO NOW!" Tsume released her daughter. Hana took a moment to look at her mother before collecting her wounded partner and disappearing over the rooftops with the other Haimaru brothers following her. Sighing, Tsume turned back to the sky and saw that the winged demon was heading straight for her.

"Well, ain't this some seriously messed up shit, huh, Kuromaru?" Tsume questioned her faithful companion. The dog observed all of this with a quiet eye, but at her words decided to respond to his owner.

"Of course, my lady," Kuromaru told her. Then, he asked, "What shall be our plan of attack?"

"I don't know. I figured we'd wing it and hope for the best," Tsume told the dog. Kuromaru hummed in thought, eventually giving a nod of consent.

"Very well…."

Tensing, Tsume lowered herself into a crouch, knowing that she'd only have one chance to take the demon by surprise. Hopefully, if she was lucky, it'd only take one blow to end the battle. But she didn't have much hope for it.

As the demon finally came into striking distance, Tsume exclaimed, "Now!" and she and Kuromaru launched themselves into the air. Soon the woman began turning her body, spinning like a top as she slashed out. Her cry of "Fang over fang!" was drowned out by the sound of a loud screech that sounded like a thunder strike in the dark sky.

Even as she was falling away from the demon Tsume was turning, both to prepare herself to launch herself back at the demon should her attack have failed and to observe the demon as she fell towards one of the buildings. The winged demon was still hovering in the air, and despite looking furious didn't appear any worse for wear.

As soon as Tsume's feet touched down on the roof of the building that she had been falling to she was launching herself forwards again. From behind the demon Kuromaru came sailing, slashing and biting at the demon as he spun. Tsume followed his example and became a whirlwind of teeth and fangs.

The demon shrieked, and a clawed hand batted Tsume away. Tsume took the blow to her stomach, wincing as the demon's claws cut into her tender flesh, but even as she was falling she watched as Kuromaru fell upon the demon's back, clawing and biting at any exposed flesh. Tsume then rolled into a back flip and landed soundlessly onto another roof. Immediately she was throwing herself into the air. She did a series of flips, taking her higher into the air with every turn of her body, until she was higher up then the demon was in the air. Then she was falling, throwing out her leg. She felt satisfied when her descending leg hit the demon hard enough that a loud crack filled the sky, and the demon gave a shriek of pain.

Then she was screaming as a clawed hand grabbed her ankle and spun her in the air. Sometime in the spin she felt herself hit something hard and furry, and then Tsume found herself spinning out of control towards one of the buildings.

With a loud crash Tsume hit the building's roof hard enough to create a mini crater around her. Tsume cried out in pain as the full force of the blow made her temporarily black out. Tsume blinked away the stars in her eyes, looking with blurry eyes towards the demon hovering in the sky.

Tsume had just enough time to realize that the demon had the figure of a woman before said demonic woman flipped her the bird and took off across the village.

Tsume blinked, confused.

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XXX

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"**Yummy, yummy,**" Anko purred with a devilish smile playing across her beautiful face. She was currently using a chain that she had picked up off of one of the many fallen ninja to strangle an unfortunate sand nin.

"Anko!" Kurenai shouted, while defending herself from a small mix of sand and sound ninja. Despite having to keep an eye on all the ninja striking out at her, Kurenai was still easily able to see as the ninja in Anko's grasp stopped struggling against the possessed kunoichi's hold and fell limply in her grip. With a maniacal laugh Anko gave a sharp tug on the chain and snapped the man's neck.

Rushing through a series of hand seals Kurenai began channeling her chakra for another genjutsu. However, even as she was placing the ninja into her trap one of them was going through the motions to dispel her technique. Kurenai grit her teeth and snatched a kunai out of her robes and flung it in the direction of the troublesome ninja, but it was far too late as he had managed to free a couple of his teammates from her spell.

A fast and furious battle took place in the next few moments as Kurenai defended herself from the freed members of the group of ninja. However, this was merely a ruse, as two of the freed ninja took the time out of the fight to free the other members of their team, and soon the rookie jounin was surrounded on all sides.

"You've been more trouble then you're worth, Leaf Nin," one of the ninja proclaimed. Sweat beaded down Kurenai's brow as she tried to think up a tactic to handle the group. She wasn't a close range fighter, and there was a perfectly good reason for that. But that didn't mean that she was defenseless.

The group began spreading out, all taking up defensible positions around her and boxing her in. Kurenai tried keeping her eyes on all of them, but they were too far spread out for her to have total vision of the group.

One of them hissed, "We need to be careful. If we draw that other chick's attention to us then we're dead," Kurenai's eyes lit up as she began plotting a course of action, managing to get a quick peek past all the ninja in the direction where Anko was. To her surprise and delight Anko was still in the area, tearing apart ninja with her bare hands as it were. That would do.

"Then we'll need to hurry. Maybe we'll be able to unite with the others and finally bring the bitch down for good," snorted one of the other ninja. There was a murmur of consensus agreement. The group spread out as far as they could around the red eyed jounin, before tensing in preparation.

At some unheard signal the group lurched forwards like a tidal wave, pouring in on her from all corners. Kurenai was just tensing when she heard a unique sound, and despite being startled managed to launch herself into the air. For but a moment she allowed herself to marvel at the sound of a thousand birds chirping, and then she was falling.

"AHHHHGGHHH," someone screamed. Turning in the air, Kurenai was able to glimpse as Kakashi and Sasuke sped into the group of sound and sand ninja, hacking and slashing with their hands like they were blades. To her utter shock she found that, like a blade, each stroke of their hands were able to cleanly separate a ninja from an attached body part as if they had stuck a hot knife into butter. Even as she was landing she could only catch a barest glimpse of blue electricity sparking around the sensei and student's hands. Then she was standing in the midst of gore and dismembered body parts, the sounds of screaming and pained moaning rising from the alive, but crippled ninja around her.

"Kakashi," she said on a happy sigh. She hadn't expected him to arrive when he had, but it was nice that she had back up. The man offered a nod of greeting.

"Sasuke," the silver haired jounin told his black haired student. Sasuke turned red sharigan eyes to his sensei in question, "I want you to search the stadium and see if there's anyone we might have missed here, and get them to safety."

"I want to help," Sasuke said to his sensei seriously. Kakashi turned to him, inclining his head as if this was a response that he had predicted and formed a counter argument against.

"Of course, Sasuke," Kakashi said, ruffling the boy's hair, "and you will be. There's bound to be a load of people here that haven't gotten to safety yet, and will need protection to escape any ninja out for blood. You'll be able to protect them and fight some strong opponents at the same time," Kakashi supplied. Sasuke nodded after a quick inner debate and headed out of the area. Kakashi looked past Kurenai.

"Alright, I'm not going to ask what the hell happened, because it's quite obvious that we're being invaded. But what the HELL is up with the sky, and why is Anko tearing people apart with her bare hands and acting more insane then she's ever been?" he posed his question to the rookie jounin. Kurenai followed the man's eyesight and saw that he was watching as Anko literally tore a man in half with her own hands, seemingly unmindful to the sheer struggle it should have caused her to do such a feat. Kurenai put a hand to her forehead, wincing.

"I don't know," she told him, and at the look he gave her she decided to elaborate. "It happened so fast that no one had time to react. There was this man…he was posing as Naruto, and Anko seemed to think he was. And…well, he utterly destroyed Neji, and proceeded to lose it. After that, well, all hell broke loose and he was somehow able to summon this black veil that has enshrouded the Leaf Village," she pointed to the sky. "And no one knows where the Hokage is."

"He's probably dealing with the Kazekage," Kakashi said offhandedly. He proceeded to catch the Sand nin that had been throwing himself at Kakashi's back and break the offending nin's neck in one smooth motion, "if the presence of the Sand ninja with the Sound ninja is anything to go by, then I think that the Kazekage was in league with this cou," he told her. Kurenai nodded in understanding.

"So what should we do?" Kurenai asked the silver haired jounin. Kakashi hummed, spun around to launch a fireball at a sound ninja and then turned back to her.

"The Hokage has a unit of Anbu watching out for him. Not to mention he's more than enough to handle most ninja. He'll be able to take care of himself just fine," then he turned his gaze past Kurenai again to look in the direction of Anko. "Our main concern should be the evacuation of any civilian that hasn't made it to the tunnels and the securing of the village from this unknown force. Since whatever it is that's affecting the corpses of the fallen ninja in this village seems to have affected Anko as well, then I think we should turn our attention to capturing her and trying to sort everything out."

Kurenai bit her lip at the man's words. She knew that his suggestion that they interrogate Anko was perfectly reasonable as the purple haired tokubestu jounin seemed to be right in the middle of all this chaos, but Anko was her friend and Kurenai wasn't comfortable with the idea that Kakashi now saw Anko as the enemy. Eventually she realized that there was no use putting this off, as the faster they secured Anko then the faster they could help her get over whatever it was that she had been infected by.

"Alright," Kurenai nodded, but still insisted, "but I don't won't to hurt her. She isn't in her right mind right now. When all this craziness began happening she was slipping in and out of her normal personality and this mad woman she's become. I wouldn't feel right hurting her when she's not responsible for her own actions."

"We won't have to," Kakashi assured her. At Kurenai's looked he explained, "You're a genjutsu master, and Anko's never been terribly good with genjutsu. It'll be easy for you to put her under a genjutsu and stop her, or break whatever genjutsu she's under," he didn't say that he didn't think she was under genjutsu, knowing that that would just alarm the red eyed woman.

"Alright," Kurenai nodded, "but if that doesn't work I want your assurance that you won't kill her or cripple her. Understood?" she glared at him. Kakashi eye smiled.

"Of course, I understand perfectly. You can rest assured that I won't take it that far," he told her. Then he looked in the direction of Anko, who had in the last few moments begun making a steady headway in the direction of the arena. "Maybe we should get started. It doesn't look like she's going to wait around any longer."

"Yeah," and for some reason a feeling of dread began to swell in Kurenai's heart.

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XXX

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Jiraiya groaned, picking himself up from the cement. His whole body ached in more ways in the one, and he was pretty sure he had vomited sometime during the few moments that he had been unconscious. Through bleary eyes he looked across the street, for any signs that someone had noticed him getting his ass soundly handed to him, or if worse, that…demon was still around. Seeing that no one was around to see his humiliation, Jiraiya winced, slowly reaching around to grab his aching balls in pain.

It served him right to hit on a demon. Even if she was hot.

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XXX

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"Anko!" Kakashi exclaimed. He didn't give the woman time to react as he rushed her, throwing a few punches that she easily dodged. A musical laugh escaped the possessed woman's lips as she evaded his fists, slapping his hands away and spinning to throw a kick out. Kakashi jumped backwards, grinding his teeth at the way the woman easily predicted and countered his movements.

"Anko, we're trying to help you. Please calm down and tell us what's wrong," Kakashi said halfheartedly. He knew that even as he said it that said woman wouldn't obey his words. His thoughts were proven right as the woman launched herself forwards at him.

Kakashi evaded a one-two combo that would have laid him flat, rolling under the blows and rising up in an uppercut. However, Anko saw him coming and jerked her head to the side, and as his arm past her face she chomped down on his arm.

"Shit!" Kakashi winced in pain. However, instead of reacting to the pain he simply plucked the woman off the ground and surplexed her into the ground head first. Anko rolled away from him, rising to crouch like an animal, growling at him. Kakashi eyed the woman with a certain level of growing horror and fear, watching as his blood poured down her mouth in a gush of red.

_Anytime now would be good,_ Kakashi didn't bother looking for Kurenai. Whatever the woman was doing obviously had to be labor intensive if it was taking this long. He'd just have to bear with it and occupy Anko's time until Kurenai had her chance to genjutsu Anko's consciousness into oblivion. But he knew he couldn't afford to lock blows with the possessed woman, as Anko's strength, speed, and dexterity were unparalleled while she was possessed. Any mistake in close quarters could cost him his life.

Knowing this Kakashi began speeding through hand signs, eventually stopping on tiger. His mouth bloomed outwards and he held his fingers to his mouth as he blew a large fireball at the woman. But Anko was already moving, rolling under the speeding ball of death and charging him with her fist pulled back behind her as if by doing so she'd build enough velocity to pierce his chest with a simple punch. Kakashi didn't much want to test the possibility that Anko could, and simply began backpedaling, immediately going into hand seals.

As Anko thrust her hand forwards Kakashi dived to the side and unleashed a blast of lightning at the woman. He was satisfied when he heard Anko cry out in pain. However, briefly recalling that Kurenai wanted him to avoid hurting her friend made the copy nin wince. But he knew it was unavoidable if Anko continued to be unresponsive to his words. He'd have to take action to get the purple haired woman under control.

Though slightly singed, Anko didn't appear worse for wear. Just angry, her gray eyes fixated on Kakashi with a fierceness that was only mirrored when someone tried to steal her dango. Kakashi didn't wait to find out what the woman was going to do, immediately beginning to hand sign like crazy as he sought for a jutsu that would slow the woman down.

Anko was rushing forwards again, a blood curdling scream issuing from her lips. Kakashi threw himself into the air as Anko threw a drop kick at him. Rolling like a top Kakashi landed behind Anko and latched his hands onto the woman's shoulders. Immediately he began channeling his lightning jutsu that he had just prepped into the woman's body. At the feeling of several thousand volts of electricity coursing through her body Anko released another blood curdling scream.

Suddenly, Kakashi found the wind knocked out of him as Anko thrust her hand back into his solar plexus, forcing him to release her shoulders. She took this as her chance and spun around, snapping a kick into his side. Immediately, the scarecrow ninja sagged against the leg, before being launched backwards and over a few rows of seats. He landed heavily across the back of a chair and rolled away in pain, not knowing whether to clutch his sides or his back.

_Kurenai, where the HELL are you?_ Kakashi thought, searching for the woman as he slowly stood to his feet. However, Anko was already upon him, throwing herself over the seat that he was standing on and tackling him to the floor. Kakashi grunted, feeling as Anko clutched his skull with her hands, her sharp fingernails digging into the tender skin of his skin as if they were claws.

Kakashi grasped upwards, trying to hook his fingers around Anko's throat, but said woman ignored him, smashing his face against the ground hard enough for him to see stars. Kakashi gasped, and attempted to slam a hand down on the purple haired woman's head. But Anko shrugged this off and smashed him into the floor again.

Kakashi blacked out for a moment. When the world came back into focus a moment later Anko was kneeling over him, her fingers clutched so tightly against his head that he felt his skull ache in protest. She had the most curiously ferocious, pained expression that he could see. But despite that expression her eyes weren't looking at him but inwards. Black ooze, the same as the black blood that had filtered the sky earlier, though Kakashi didn't know this, was dripping down from her eyes, ears, and out of her mouth.

"Kakashi, I don't know how long I can hold her! Get out of there!" Kurenai shouted from somewhere close. Kakashi could see that Anko was fighting whatever genjutsu Kurenai had cast on her; this was unusual because Anko sucked at the casting and dispelling of genjutsu.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the stadium. Kakashi could see that the noise and feeling of the explosion had knocked Anko out of the genjutsu. A dark expression came over the woman's face as she looked down at Kakashi.

Then someone shouted, "I'M BLEEDING!"

It was almost as if a switch had been flipped in Anko, as the woman gave a cry of pain and fell to the ground just as someone in the arena, a woman by the sound of it, released their own scream of pain. Even as Kakashi watched Anko flopping on the floor, clutching at her throat as black ooze spilled from her eyes, ears and mouth, he could see as every walking corpse that had invaded the stadium stopped, and turned their attention to the arena while groaning.

And then a woman shouted, "**You little shit, I'll fucking kill you!**"

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XXX

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The Soul Anubis landed deftly onto the ground, running a finger slowly across her left shoulder. The she-demon could tell that the shoulder was dislocated, which only infuriated her. With a simple jerk of her shoulder she popped the limb back into its socket, then directed her golden gaze onto the boy who had given her such a wound.

"**You little shit,**" the Soul Anubis spat venomously as she leveled a hate filled glare onto the red head, "**I'll fucking kill you!**"

"Yes, I'm bleeding," the red head, Gaara of the Sand said as he clutched his own bleeding shoulder with a look that was a cross of agony and of ecstasy, "Finally, I can prove my existence!" he hissed.

"Gaara, please, you mustn't lose control, not now," the boy's sister, Temari pleaded with him as she watched the two demonic fighters stare each other down. Gaara turned his bloodshot gaze to his sister.

"Shut up! Mother want's her blood! I need to prove my existence by killing her! Now leave me alone!" the boy threw his uninjured hand in the direction of the blond girl and sent out a wave of deadly sand in the girl's general direction. Temari backed away, wisely, and just watched on with a sort of pale, frightened, sad expression on her face.

"**Prove your existence? How are you going to do that?**" the she-demon questioned, earning the boy's attention again as Gaara turned his head towards her with a maniac grin on his face.

"Mother wants your blood!" Gaara exclaimed, and he was suddenly moving.

The Soul Anubis watched as the boy's gourd turned to sand and enveloped his body even as he was moving towards her. Nimbly, the she-devil flipped over the sand claw that the boy thrust towards her, spinning and delivering a swift kick to the back of the boy's head which caused him to stumble.

"Yes, yes, this is what I've waited for!" Gaara proclaimed, turning back and following her as the she-devil danced away from him. He slashed wildly with his claw, the sand from his body easily tearing up the ground of the arena, while he didn't pay any attention to any of the other genin that were in the arena with them.

As the Soul Anubis pranced and flipped and twirled between every strike the boy would throw at her, her mind wandered to the events that happened since she was "awakened" and how she had changed so much from the shy little human girl that she had been into this confident, graceful, and powerful she-devil.

Her teammate hadn't realized the monumental conversation she had been having with her one true love through telepathy during the course of the first battle in the chunin exam finals. The Soul Taker, as was his title, had sensed the love that she had carried in her heart and accepted her as a valuable ally. Because of that, he had contacted her through the course of the one and only true battle in the exams and asked quite plainly if she'd join him.

After discovering what his real identity was, she had agreed, on the sole condition that he would allow her to love him and for him to attempt to love her in return. He had agreed, easily, and then offered her a gift.

After receiving the Devil Core, the source of their demonic power, she had felt herself change in such a fundamental way that she would be unrecognizable to an outsider. Filled with confidence and the sense of power unimaginable, she had immediately rushed out into the village as soon as the shit hit the fan. During this time, she had fed her Devil Core by consuming the souls of those she fought, and eventually evolved into a true devil. Like this, she had forsaken her humanity in only two short hours just to be with the man she loved.

After that, the Soul Anubis had taken to the skies, heeded by the telepathic link with her lover who urged her to aid any Leaf ninja when she could while making her way to the chunin stadium. During this course she had fought many sand and sound ninja, gotten into a scuffle with the clan head of the Inuzuka clan, and got hit on by Jiraiya of the sannin after she had aided him in a battle with a summon. After a sound kick to the balls that had immediately knocked the silver haired pervert unconscious, she took to the skies once more and finally managed to get to the chunin stadium.

She arrived in time to see Uchiha Sasuke defending the other genin in the stadium from a rampaging Gaara of the Sand, the boy having decided that he would "test" his own existence against the other genin. Sasuke's chidori had been quickly overwhelmed when Gaara had flooded the arena with sand when the Uchiha had begun the assassination technique. Caught flat footed, Sasuke had been caught in the on pouring of sand and washed away like the tide, his deadly thousand bird technique fading into quiet nothing.

After landing in the arena and making sure that none of the genin was injured, the Soul Anubis had faced down the stony faced psychopath. Then she had attacked him, slashing out at him with the blades that could sprout out of her wrists at him, and sending a burst of demonic energy at him that quickly overwhelmed the boy's sand defense and caused a massive explosion in the arena.

That's when everything went to crap.

Gaara had gone even more insane then he was, screaming about the fact that his shoulder was bleeding, and spouting off about the proof of his existence, whatever the hell that was. He had caught her by surprise and snatched her arm with his sand, dislocating the joint with a sharp tug. Pissed now, the Soul Anubis fully intended to make the boy dead. That brings us full circle to where we are, currently.

The Soul Anubis ducked low and slashed with her wrist blades across his torso. Covered in her demonic energy, they easily split the boy's skin despite the sand armor covering his body, and the Soul Anubis was pleased to see that the boy bled just like every else. Well, except a devil, but that was beside the point.

"ARGH! Yes, more! Show me the proof of your existence so that I may crush it with mine!" Gaara laughed, swinging with his sand arm as if it was a bludgeon. The Soul Anubis would have remarked on his words, but someone in the seats of the stadium shouted, "Hinata!"

The Soul Anubis gasped as Gaara took full advantage of her lack of concentration and walloped her with his arm, sending her crashing into the wall of the arena with such force that the ground quaked like a mini earthquake and cement and stone fell around her as she made a nice dent in the wall.

"Hinata!" the Soul Anubis looked up into the stadium and realized that the person standing was her sensei, Kurenai Yuuhi, the woman looking like she was about to have a panic attack. For but a moment the Soul Anubis cursed the see through visor that protected her face, as despite the shadows that blocked the majority of her features from view she was still recognizable to anyone who was familiar with her.

_Not now, Kurenai,_ the Soul Anubis thought, picking herself out of the rubble and speeding towards the boy. She avoided the wild swing from the boy's claw, slashing with her wrist blades and earning a scream of pain from the boy. Then she was flipping over him as sand shot out of his demonic side and straight at her. She landed behind him and slashed down on his back, surprised when the gourd managed to stop the descent of her wrist blades. Gaara laughed.

"Surprised!" she watched as the gourd melted completely and the boy was covered completely by sand, looking like a mini tanuki demon then a human child now. He whirled on her, faster than he should be able to move, swiping at her with both claws. The Soul Anubis ducked between the two claws and thrust her wrist blades forwards but frowned when they sunk into the sand covering the boy's body but didn't pierce flesh.

"HAHAHA! Is this all you're capable of? This is not nearly enough!" the boy shouted. The Soul Anubis immediately began backpedaling away from the boy, wincing as a spike made of sand grazed her shoulders. It seemed that the boy was able to do more than just swing that sand around, having used his whole body as a weapon now, spikes rising out of his arms to try and pierce her demonic flesh.

"**Why, aren't you a talented one,**" her voice was a silky purr, which nowhere near hinted at the fury that was swirling in her heart. Thankfully, she could feel the wound on her shoulder closing, the black blood working to close and heal the wound.

"**Show me the proof of your existence!**" shouted the tanuki. His voice had darkened into a low growl, gravely and violent. The Soul Anubis flicked her eyes towards the genin still standing around the arena, but a survey of the stadium revealed that her sensei, Kurenai, was gone. She frowned.

She got her answer where Kurenai was when the tanuki-fied Gaara screamed, clutching at his head. He shook and thrashed violently. The Soul Anubis suddenly heard the sound of a thousand birds chirping at once, and then in the next second Kakashi came down upon Gaara with a chidori prepped and ready. Gaara screamed as the lightning blade pierced his hide, but only produced a minute wound. Then Gaara snatched Kakashi up in his claws and threw him clear across the arena where he hit the wall, heard.

Kakashi struggled to stand, fighting pain. The Soul Anubis imagined that he probably had a broken rib or two, and maybe some internal bleeding. The Soul Anubis threw herself forwards, flipping over Gaara and landing a kick across his forehead hard enough to make the sand covering his face explode off his face and for him to stagger away.

When the Soul Anubis turned to Kakashi she found that Kurenai was helping the scarecrow to his feet. Looking to them she said, "**Guys, you can rest. I've got this covered.**"

"You're just a genin, there's no way we'll leave you to handle that…that…monster by yourself," Kurenai told her passionately. Kakashi was pale, but looked as if he was intent to fight as well.

In answer to this, the Soul Anubis put a hand on her hip, a cocky smirk on her face that was just barely masked by the shadows that covered her face. Motioning a hand to herself, she asked, "**Do I LOOK like a genin to you?**" turning her attention away from them and back to Gaara, she told them, "**Relax. I got this.**"

The two jounin gaped at her as the Soul Anubis rushed towards the tanuki-boy rising to his feet. She knew that the sand covering the boy's body was probably going to keep her from piercing the boy's flesh with her wrist blades, so she knew that the only way she was going to hurt him was to overwhelm him with blunt force. In that mind, the she-devil recalled her wrist blades and formed her hands into fists.

With a violent scream, the Soul Anubis threw her fist forwards….

* * *

XXX

* * *

The dark skies enveloped the demon, hiding its presence from the villagers below. Dark, leathery wings beat powerfully, easily propelling the winged devil through the sky in a simple glide. Golden eyes peered down at all the fighting happening in the streets below, a sophisticated mind churning with thoughts and dark designs. Hidden by the visor blocking its face, the devil gave a self-satisfied smirk. With a simple tipping of its wings, it cut through the air, circling the stadium. Its whole interest was on the battles taking part here most of all.

Absently, the devil wondered whether his "pet project" was able enough to fight a human that could harness the power of a demon. Logically, the devil knew that the Soul Anubis held the power to easily handle the one tailed beast. However, she was inexperienced, and hadn't given herself totally to the Devil Core resting in her chakra network. It would be interesting to see if she was capable enough to fight on even grounds with a tailed beast – but she would need to grow much stronger if she ever wished to stand on equal footing with him.

He would stand no less…

* * *

XXX

* * *

The stadium's walls were shaking. The loud sound of a thunderclap echoed repeatedly, sometimes in short bursts, sometimes in one long, continuous stream, and sometimes only one at a time. At the side lines, Kurenai had gone back to attend to Anko who was still having a horrific seizure in the stands, black goo spilling out of her eyes, ears, and mouth. Kakashi, meanwhile, had gone to check on the genin still stranded in the stadium.

Shikamaru and Shino had cornered Kankuro and Temari, preventing them from fleeing. Both the puppet user and the wind mistress were pleading to the two boys to run, while sneaking glances at the two "demons" currently duking it out in the arena. A survey of the grounds showed Neji a ways away, still unconscious on the ground. A quick check of his vitals revealed that the boy was fine, save for a broken nose, a few cracked ribs, and minor abrasions and lacerations. He didn't even have a concussion, which was a miracle in itself, considering how much "Naruto" had beaten him, though Kakashi hadn't seen the fight himself, he just recalled Kurenai mentioning it, so he didn't know if all these wounds were from "Naruto" or not.

Kakashi picked the unconscious boy up off the ground and knocked Kankuro and Temari unconscious. He then proceeded to where Kurenai was trying to calm Anko with a genjutsu that wasn't helping in the least, with Shikamaru and Shino following silently. After a quick survey of the ailing woman, Kakashi kicked the purple haired snake mistress across the head, knocking her unconscious. Since her seizure was caused by whatever was responsible for the black blood oozing out of Anko's face, Kakashi deduced that Anko wouldn't calm unless they knocked her unconscious.

Kurenai berated Kakashi, but the older jounin silenced her and told her quite seriously that they didn't have time to deal with whatever the hell was up with Anko. He then proceeded to point out the two "demons" battling in the arena, telling her that they had to evacuate as many people as they could while the demons were busy killing each other, and would worry about helping Anko and dealing with the Sand siblings later. Kurenai hesitantly agreed with the man, not wanting to leave Hinata but knowing it was no use, and the group of three jounin (two awake and able, the other unconscious) and four genin (Leaf and the unconscious Sand Siblings) headed out towards the evacuation tunnels.

As they were escaping, Kurenai prayed for her student. Despite whatever had happened to cause those changes in Hinata, Kurenai didn't doubt that deep down the girl was still shy and scared of the world around her. She prayed that Hinata would be able to throw that piece of her aside so that she could win this battle, otherwise she wouldn't have the strength to defeat Gaara.

* * *

XXX

* * *

A sweeping kick tore the arm of sand off the miniature Tanuki's body, ripping a scream of fury and bloodlust from the monster's throat. Spinning on her heel, the Soul Anubis dropped and thrust her fist into the raccoon's stomach, earning a grunt of pain as her hand imbedded several inches into the tough sand armor.

"**What does it take to kill you**?" the Soul Anubis growled. Gaara laughed and slashed at her with a sand claw. The she-devil easily jumped over the arm and landed a few punches and kicks into the demonic boy's unprotected back as she dropped behind him.

Gaara paid her no mind and lashed out with his tail. The Soul Anubis flipped, bouncing off the tail, and brought her foot to the boy's head. Gaara's head snapped back painfully, the boy screaming in pain. At the boy's pain filled cry, the Soul Anubis had to jump back as spikes of sand shout out of the boy's back and tail, nearly impaling her.

Once her feet landed on the ground again she was forced to dodge once more as a loud cry of "**Wind Bullet!**" tore through the arena. Instantly, the ground where she had been previously standing not a few moments ago exploded. Bits of sand, grass, and rocks rained down on the arena ground.

The Soul Anubis tracked her eyes onto the sand covered boy. She was forced to evade as the tanuki shot another wind bullet, which was followed by another, and another. She was afforded no chance to rest as she circled around the boy, dodging wind bullets.

But she wasn't just evading. She was planning, and setting the stage for her next attack. As she spiraled around the boy, dancing away from one blast of air after the other, her right and left arms began to glow. Large orbs appeared in each hand, which had grown to double their size and become clawed. When she was within striking distance the Soul Anubis pushed herself forwards to start her counter attack.

She ducked below the tanuki-boy's reaching claws, and threw her fist up into a powerful uppercut that sounded like a thunder claw. Immediately the boy was rising into the air, easily passing over the top most part of the stadium where he hovered slightly before beginning his downward descent.

The Soul Anubis wasn't idle. Throwing out her hands, a pair of large, leathery bat wings stretched from her back, and with a mighty flap they easily propelled her into the air. She rose quickly, closing the distance between her and the falling boy. Seeing her approaching, the tanuki-child's body puffed up considerably, as thousands of mouths appeared on his body, sucking in all the air around him.

"**Damn you!**" Gaara shouted, and instantly every mouth on his body began issuing forth a barrage of wind bullets in every which direction. Instead of being caught off guard an being hit by one of the bullets, the Soul Anubis merely titled her trajectory and dodged out of the way of several on coming wind bullets. Eventually, she pushed past the boy and rose into the air above him.

Raising her hands above her head, the Soul Anubis cupped her hands together into a hammer fist, glaring down at the tanuki-boy. Then with a mighty scream of, "**Lightning Crusher**!" she threw her double fisted hand down into the boy's stomach. Gaara screamed as waves of demonic energy poured down into his body from the she-devil's fists and propelled him to the ground.

With a giant_ boom_, he crashed…

* * *

XXX

* * *

"Is this all that the great 'Professor' is capable of?" Orochimaru laughed, tossing his Kusanagi between his hands as he watched his ex-sensei defend himself from his puppets. That Hiruzen Sarutobi's attackers were none other than Hashirama and Tobirama Senju, the Third Hokage's own sensei added a certain level of irony that the snake charmer Orochimaru wanted to appreciate fully. "My?" Orchimaru rolled his tongue over his lips, a devilish smile on his face, "how the mighty have fallen."

Hiruzen was breathing heavily, wielding his partner, Enma, the king of apes, as a weapon, in the shape of a bo staff. Enma's shape-shifting abilities were perhaps the only thing that was keeping the aged Hokage in the game, as he was far too old and brittle to be handling this crap. That he was fighting two of the strongest Hokage in history was a little fact that he didn't much appreciate.

When Tobirama went into the attack, shooting a volley of water missiles at him, Hiruzen went into motion dodging away and then proceeded to flip over and deliver a heel to Hashirama's face as the dead Hokage had tried sneaking up on him. Hashirama didn't react in the slightest, just reached out towards Hiruzen. Sarutobi evaded, whipping Enma round and Hashirama defended himself by covering his arm in tree bark and blocking the overhead strike.

Hashirama then unleashed a wave of killer tree roots at him, and Hiruzen was forced to backpedal. While he was doing so Tobirama came from behind and issued out a fountain of water from his mouth that he formed into the shape of a large bird that dived towards him. Turning, Hiruzen was caught by the full force of the attack, being washed away across the roof.

Stopping at a lower point on the roof, Hiruzen lay prone on the ground. Tobirama and Hashirama approached, obviously intending to finish the job. Only a few feet from Hiruzen the old man's body became a puff of smoke, covering their vision.

From the shadows of the smoke cover two forms appeared. A pair of hands each grabbed the two dead Hokage round the shoulders and pulled them to a deceptively thin body. Then, with a grunt the two clones exploded and took the two deceased Hokage with him.

"Do you really think that will take care of my pets, _sensei_?" Orochimaru called into the trees that soared above them. "My warriors are immortal and inexhaustible. How long do you think you'll last?" from up in the tree tops Hiruzen Sarutobi looked down in the direction of his student. He was breathing heavily and sweat glistened on his brow.

"We can't take much more of this, my friend," Enma told his partner. Sarutobi nodded, but kept a steady eye on both Orochimaru and the two deceased men that were reforming to their original states.

"It's beginning to look like I'll have to use 'that' technique," Sarutobi told the ape king. Enma growled lowly.

"Surely you cannot be serious? Such a thing will surely kill you! Do you really intend to sacrifice your life needlessly?"

"Not needlessly," Sarutobi proclaimed, turning his gaze to Enma now, "if it means to rid Orochimaru from this world and prevent the destruction of the Leaf Village, then, yes, I gladly will."

"Well, where are you hiding, Sarutobi?" Orochimaru laughed, "Is this all that you are capable of? Running? Hiding? Where was the warrior who taught me to be a shiniobi?" Sarutobi turned his gaze back to Orochimaru and found the snake nin was actively searching the environment for his presence. "Surely you can see the pointlessness of your actions? You and your village are fated to die this day."

"**Screw fate**," a voice growled lowly.

Everyone, Orochimaru, Sarutobi, Enma, the deceased Hokage and the Sound Four and Anbu located just out of the fighting area looked in shocked silence at the…creature that had just appeared in their midst.

Tall, lithe…dark…these were only some of the descriptive terms one could apply to the demon that now stood in their midst. Nearly seven feet in height, with tight, sculpted muscles that wound around a wiry frame, and with long, torn, black and leathery bat wings poised in the down flap of a landing, the figure was already an impressive sight. Coupled that with the sight of three foot long horns framing the top of a demonic helmet and the golden eyes that were just able to pierce the shadows hiding the demon's face under his visor, and he was truly diabolical. But it was the blood stained bandages wrapped around the man's impressive forearms that drew the eye. Since the normally white cloth was now completely drenched in blood, that ran down his forearms and dripped to the Earth, it was a guaranteed fact that the demon had killed just recently.

"What the _hell_ are you?" Orochimaru snapped moodily. He didn't look too pleased to have his fun interrupted by someone. Anyone, really… this was probably because the barrier that the Sound Four were using was supposed to _block_ out anyone from getting in. "And how did you enter my barrier?"

"**Two things, really**," the demon held up two claws. He then ticked one off and said, "**One, the barrier only blocks physical matter, and as a devil I'm as unphysical as you can get while still being tied to a physical reality**," Orochimaru took that into consideration, deciding to devise a way to keep spirits out of the barrier as well. Then the demon continued, ticking off his second finger, "**And second…I'm your worst nightmare…**"

"**I'm the fucking Soul Taker**."

* * *

XXX

* * *

"You…are..powerful," Gaara claimed, huffing. The sand on his body was barely able to cling there, most of it having fallen off after the Soul Anubis had unleashed her Lightning Crusher attack on him. But he didn't seem to pay attention to the state that his body or his sand was in, as he was grinning from ear to ear, blood thirst in his eyes. "I think…I'm going to have…to…take…you…seriously….now…" Gaara growled. Then he threw his hands into the air.

The Soul Anubis was forced to jump into the air and release her wings, soaring into the air as the ground under her had exploded. She watched from the skyline as every speck of sand in a five mile radius rushed to Gaara in the arena. She waited, and was surprised and horrified to watch as the sand collected into one huge shape and formed some kind of giant, big bellied, tanuki demon made of sand. The giant monster, though intimidating, didn't seem capable of moving, let alone possessing a mind of any kind. So, really, it was no threat. The Soul Anubis relaxed slightly, but kept a careful watch for where Gaara was hiding.

Then said boy appeared from out of the forehead of the demon, popping up out of the sand until he was poking up out of the forehead at least to his waist. He looked to the Soul Anubis, bloodlust in his eyes, telling her, "I can't believe I'm forced to use this technique…"

That put Soul Anubis on guard. In fact, she was pretty sure that she didn't want to find out whatever he was planning. So, instead, she rushed the boy, he wings beating powerfully and propelling her through the air like a bullet. Seeing this, the boy formed a hand seal and shut his eyes.

Quietly, the boy whispered, "Playing Possum no Jutsu," and immediately slumped over, fast asleep.

Seeing this, the Soul Anubis pulled out of her dive, looking confused by this turn of events. She briefly considered murdering the boy while he was asleep, but that lingering bit of humanity that receded in the depths of her heart prevented her from even considering the idea seriously. He was a child after all, and no matter how unhinged he was she just couldn't find herself capable of killing him when he was vulnerable.

Then the giant sand tanuki lurched. Jerking away, the Soul Anubis barely managed to avoid being smacked aside as a giant claw made of sand swooped through the air space that she had previously vacated.

"**I'm free! Yahoo! Finally, I'm free of that damn seal!**" the sand demon shouted, in a heavily accented voice. The Soul Anubis cursed, drifting away to avoid being hit by his claws as he swiped them through the air in pleasure.

"**Now, where's that BITCH that was trying to kill my jailor?**" Shukaku the sand tanuki said. He searched the air before his eyes landed onto the Soul Anubis. He grinned at the sight of the comically smaller demon. "**Hellllloooo there, beautiful? Fancy a go with nature's ninja?**" he said, playing on an old joke about raccoons.

The Soul Anubis folded her arms over her armored bust, glaring at the cocky sand demon. She titled her head, almost as if she was considering, before she spat, "**Go suck on a lemon**."

"Aw, now don't be like that, babe. As they say, a little raccoon goes a long way," he told her, sagely nodding his head.

She narrowed her eyes.

"**Don't call me babe. And that's not a saying at all. Besides, you're more than likely to give me rabies**," she scoffed. Shukaku shrugged.

"Well, I tried," he laughed. Then he swiped at her with his claw.

The Soul Anubis was instantly in motion, flying around the appendage and unleashing a variety of kicks and punches across the sandy surface of his forearm. When he didn't react she just switched to her wrists blades, running them through the sand that made up the creature's arms. Again, she got no reaction.

Then she was dodging as spikes shot out of the demon's skin, forcing her to flee. Her flight was cut short as Shukaku reached out with his other claw and she was forced to dive out of the way. Through her flight she caught sight of the sleeping Gaara and a thought slowly formed in her mind. Seeing as it was her only option, she then made a beeline for the sleeping boy.

However, a wall of sand blocked her off and she had to turn sharply to avoid colliding with it. Before she could get her bearings several spikes shot out of the sand demon's skin and she had to dodge to the side. However, one spike managed to clip her stomach, tearing a bloody gash into the armor and skin of her stomach. She grunted, beat her wings, and then took off to try and put some distance between them.

"**Where you going, babe?**" Shukaku laughed, thrashing his tail at her. The Soul Anubis landed a heavy punch to the appendage that made it revert its direction, and caused it to crash into a building. The sand tanuki now wore a frown of annoyance. "**C'mon, what' with all the hostility?**"

Instead of answering the Soul Anubis dived towards Gaara again, but the Shukaku's defenses were immediately reacting, sending out a volley of walls and spikes that impeded her flight. Annoyed, the Soul Anubis began to retreat, but changed direction at the last second. A quick implementation of her claws, and she was spinning like a top and plunged towards the Shukaku's face.

Her blades actually managed to pierce the demon's sandy flesh considerably well, and she carved a round whole into his face. But the demon just laughed and swatted her away with his hand. Unprepared, the Soul Anubis was thrown backwards and flipped tail overhead until she managed to right herself in midair and stop to look at Shukaku.

Shukaku was laughing. And the hole was gone.

_Well, crap_, the Soul Anubis cursed. She was really getting tired of all this rebounding between them. She needed to think of something, fast, or this was going to get aggravating pretty fast.

"**Face it, you just can't beat the Shu-man,**" Shukaku proclaimed proudly. The Soul Anubis grimaced. Good gods, he was horrible.

"**Just shut up and fight, damn it**," the Soul Anubis growled. She then threw herself forwards and sped towards the Shukaku, blades drawn.

This continued for some time, as the Shukaku and the Soul Anubis would dodge and attack in random intervals, never gaining any leeway between the two of them. Despite the power now under her command, the Soul Anubis was slowly weakening. She had never encountered a creature as relentless as a bijuu before, and the experience was proving to her how inadequate she was for this fight.

However, she forced her rising despair to the back of her mind, continuing to attempt to attack Gaara with all her power. She could tell that she was on the right course, as the Shukaku wouldn't go to this length to protect the child unless he was the key to its defeat.

She was just dodging a few wing bullets that the Shukaku threw out, when he managed to surprise her. Before she could react he had grabbed her and slammed her into the ground, hard enough for her newly enhanced bones to scream in agony and every fiber of her being to cry out in alarm.

"**I told ya, pointless!**" the Shukaku laughed, leering down at her, "**you might want to give thought into changing your mind about my offer…**" he offered.

The Soul Anubis struggled against the hand holding her to the ground. Only her face wasn't covered. The rest of her was slowly being smothered into the ground, completely cutting her off from oxygen. She gasped, tears coming to her golden eyes as she fought valiantly against the demon's hold.

In the end she knew she was lost, and all she could do was shouting defiantly, "**Fuck you**!" then the demon covered her completely and darkness enveloped her vision. And then the pain started.

* * *

XXX

* * *

Hinata found that her one true love, Naruto, was waiting for her in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. He was sitting on a log that surrounded a campfire, elbows on his knees and his hand perched atop the back of his hands. She knew that he was waiting for her, but she didn't have to courage to approach him when she had so completely failed him not even a few hours after he trusted her enough to include her in his plans.

The thought left the young woman to stare in a depressed state at the man her heart belonged to. He had told her quite seriously when they had had that telepathic conversation between them during the chunin exam finals that he needed someone with the power and determination to enforce his desires onto the word. That he wanted to convert the world into a dictatorship under his rule was a mute point for the girl. All that had mattered to her was that he had approached her. He had explained quite simply that the only reason why he had approached her had been because she was totally loyal to him and had displayed a level of determination during the preliminary exams to warrant his interests.

In no uncertain terms he had explained that he'd give her the chance to prove herself to him, and if she proved herself worthy he would fulfill the one true desire in her heart. She had accepted, easily, provided that he spares her sister and her family. He had accepted. Then he had offered her the power she would need to prove herself, and she took it without a second thought.

Of course, she thought depressingly, she just had to go and muck everything up by failing despite all the effort he had put forth and the trust he had given her. She felt all the more depressed by the simple fact that she was, to her mind, never was, and never would be good enough for the man.

She stood there for the longest time, not knowing what to say to convince the man that she was worth a second chance, and not knowing if she wanted a second chance since _she_ didn't feel worthy of it. However, her decision was taken from her when the boy took his attention from the fire and looked towards her.

"Come, sit," he told her, motioning to the log on the other side of the fire. Obviously, this discussion was going to be business, not pleasure. Hinata silently sat down on the offered seat.

After several long minutes where Hinata sat squirming under the blond man's intense stare the girl finally cracked.

"I failed you," she admitted.

"You did," he agreed. Hinata felt tears come to her eyes at the easy acceptance of her admission. It was just a statement of fact, but it hurt all the worse because he was being as blunt as he always was, and right now she felt that she needed the truth given to her delicately.

After several more, strained minutes, Hinata asked, "What now?"

"That all depends on your next choice," Naruto told her. His face was unreadable, so she couldn't glean what he was thinking. But his next words shocked her, regardless, "death only comes to those powerless to fight it."

"Are you saying that I can go back?" she asked, daring to hope. Then her face fell as she said, "But I failed you."

"Yes, you did," again, tactless, but honest. He then pushed along regardless, saying, "I didn't think you'd succeed…the _first_ time…"

"Then why did you approach me?" she asked. He sighed.

"I still stand by what I said. You're loyal, to a fault even, and you have this certain level of determination that…appeals to me," he told her. Hinata watched him blankly.

"I'm going to be honest with you, Hinata," he told her, skipping past whatever her reaction was and continuing, "I didn't expect you to succeed your first time. We're faulty creatures, you and I. Even devils aren't immune to faults, just the same as humans. The real point of the matter is that we're hardy creatures, hardy enough to get back up after one or two fatal injuries. Even demons can't say as much." He explained.

"I thought that we _are_ demons," she spoke up. He hummed.

"Not so much," he disregarded this, explaining, "People often confuse demons with devils all the time. That doesn't mean they are the same species. What most don't know is that, while demons began from something relatively innocent like a wild animal or an object, which was touched by 'darkness', we, devils began from the human flesh, and evolved the moment we came into contact with the 'darkness'."

"So what does this all mean?" she questioned, at the edge of her seat.

"It means," he said, standing to his feet, "that your destiny is what you make it. If you want to stay here until the Shadow of Death comes to claim you, then so be it. But if you want to return, and finally prove to me that you are worth my power, trust, and love, then you best turn back the way you came and get ready for a fight."

"But how can I beat him? He overpowered me so easily," she said, looking worried.

"If you think like that then you've already lost," Naruto told her, patiently. He then motioned the way she came, saying. "Think about it. Weren't humans created to rule over animal? And if demons were created to rule over man, then what was created to rule over demons? Surely by now you realize that you have the power to defeat him, if only you would so much as look for it. But to do that, you must throw aside the last of your humanity and drink in the power of the 'darkness.' Can you do that, Hinata?"

Hinata thought about it. She nodded. "I…think so."

"Good. I hope to see you again, preferably this time in my bed," he smiled. She couldn't help the smile that came to her face, surprisingly not as embarrassed as she thought she would feel at the man's remark. Yes, she could do this.

She had to.

* * *

XXX

* * *

The Soul Anubis awoke suddenly, her golden eyes snapping open just as the Shukaku began pulling his hand away. In that moment she realized that every single bone in her body except for her skull was either broken or fractured. In that single instant, a wave of raw fury rushed through her veins, and she couldn't fight the terrible, blood curdling scream that spilled from her lips.

That scream was easily carried to the Shukaku, who paused, uncertain. Likewise, the many ninja throughout the village that were in the midst of battle stopped what they were doing in alarm, looking in the direction the scream had come from. But in the very next instant a wave of dread and nightmarish malevolence spilled into the village, coming from the direction of the stadium. At the center of the current of horror, the demon Shukaku suddenly felt its consciousness cloud with an aura of terror, as if hell had opened up to seek him out once more. He had only felt a similar situation at one point in his life, when he had the misfortune of meeting one of the devils of Hell. The fact that he had very nearly died then made this sensation all the more dreadful.

And then his outstretched claw was thrown aside, and the Soul Anubis stood up, pissed.

Only, it wasn't the Soul Anubis, at least, not exactly. In the Soul Anubis's place now stood a fiery goddess of war, staring vengefully at the sand tanuki. While the general shape of the Soul Anubis remained, much of the she-devil had changed considerably.

The armored muscles in the she-devil's arms and legs were bigger and more defined, but still shapely despite this. Her shoulders and hips and breasts had increased to several sizes larger, filling out her taller form more deeply. From each of her shoulders protruded three spikes, curved and cruel. Her helmet had changed, now no longer a helmet as the visor and helmet had fused to her face and formed a demonic visage, with golden eyes, and a fang filled mouth. The horns protruding from her skull were even longer, more curved and deadlier looking, and a third, smaller one protruded from her forehead. Then, from her skull, long strands of hair made of fire spilled down her back and fluttered in the wind, popping and cracking viciously. Finally, it was the huge blades that had grown from her wrists, covering the backs of her hands and extending down to an evil, curved and serrated point that drew the eyes. All in all, she had become something like a goddess of death, or a Valkyrie there to wreak havoc on everyone that sinned.

Then her wings unfolded, and she struck.

Fire collected at the point of her left blade, as she pushed it through the sandy hide of the tanuki. Shukaku screamed in defiance and threw a claw at her, but the avatar of death spun away, zipping between his claws and slashing down on his other arm with her other blade that was wreathed in flame. She ran across his arm, her wrist blade cutting into the sandy flesh of his arm easily, and when she came to the bicep she gave a flip and slashed down with both blades, severing the arm of sand in two.

"**You BITCH!**" Shukaku screamed, intending to lash out at her with his other claw, but he found that he couldn't move the appendage. Before he could look to his claw and find out what was wrong with it the dark Valkyrie was spinning towards him like a top. He screamed as her blades cut into his chest and easily carved a hole into his sandy chest. Then the Soul Anubis was out the back, spinning, and turning to his legs which she swiped at, easily severing them below the knee. The Shukaku screamed as he fell to the ground, and with a huge crash he landed.

He looked up into the sky to see that the Soul Anubis was staring at him with her vicious, fang filled smirk plastered on her face. Then she crossed both of her arms over her chest in an "X" formation. Shukaku began to collect air into his mouth to form a single, massive air bullet, not wanting to wait to see what she had in mind.

From her sides, the Soul Anubis's wrist blades began to glow a golden light. She grinned viciously down at the sand demon that was trying to ready his useless air bullet. And then she was slashing downwards with her blades, screaming, "**Lightning Slasher**!"

A flood of golden fire spilled down onto the Shukaku. The Shukaku screamed as the fire cleaved into its sand hide, tearing and melting and reforming his temperamental hide through the sheer intensity of the flames. He was left to feel as the unholy coldness of his limbs and sandy flesh being glassed began to work its way over his whole body, at odds with the fire biting into his sandy skin. He gave a final scream before the majority of his face became crystal clear glass. And then, and only then did the flames recede.

The Soul Anubis landed onto the ground in front of the glass tanuki. She eyed the glass statue she had constructed with a critical eye. Then she was moving forwards, throwing herself up onto the head of the glass creature and approaching the, as of yet, untouched form of Gaara of the Sand.

Gaara was lucky that she hadn't been aiming to kill him. She had directed the majority of her "Lightning Slasher" attack at the tanuki's body and the first portion of his head. The top portion, IE, the forehead, was mostly untouched, though Gaara was breathing hard and seemed to have a few burn marks that weren't there beforehand.

Gaara weakly opened his eyes.

"What…now?" he asked, fear evident. The Soul Anubis tilted her head, locks made of fire spilling down over her shoulder. She eyed the boy silently, trying to decide.

"**You decide**," she told him. Gaara looked to her quizzically. She shrugged her shoulders. "**As far as I see it, you were given a bad hand at life. I don't know what pushed you this far, and I can't say that I really blame you even if I knew. But I am willing to give you a second chance, because we're all faulty creatures and we make mistakes. Don't screw this up or I WILL put you down**." She told him, no nonsense.

"Why do you go so far to protect them? What have they ever done for you?" Gaara asked her. He couldn't see why a she-devil would protect humans. If humans were so bad with demons, then what would they do around a devil? The Soul Anubis shrugged.

"**Nothing, really**…" she admitted. Gaara looked like he wanted to ask her about that, so she decided to elaborate, "**I have someone who I care about that has a vested interest in this village. He has people here that he wants to protect, and so do I. I just can't let you get away with harming this village. If I have to I will kill you.**"

Gaara thought about this for a few moments, before asking, "Why? What makes them so important to you that you'd risk your life to protect them?"

"**They're my friends**," she told him. The boy's expression became one of mild confusion, but also of resigned depression. She continued anyways, "**I might not know where you are coming from, but I can guess that the person that is most precious to me can. Maybe you should talk to him sometime**."

"I'd like that." Gaara decided. He then passed out.

The Soul Anubis sighed.

* * *

XXX

* * *

The Soul Taker had proven that he could easily handle the First and Second Hokage plus Orochimaru. In fact it didn't even seem to be much of a challenge to him. In the first few seconds of the fight the Soul Taker hand thrust his hands into Hashirama and Tobirama's stomach and ripped their souls out of their bodies. Then he had proceeded to stuff the blue souls into his mouth and munch happily on them.

"How the hell did you do that?!" Orochimaru screamed in horror. The Soul Taker turned to him him with an amused expression worn on his face.

"**Hello? Soul Taker**!" he pointed to himself with one claw, "**I'm called that for a reason, you know**."

"But, but, but this is impossible!" Orochimaru was nearly frothing at the mouth, trying to understand what had just happened right in front of him. The Soul Taker just cackled.

"**No, not impossible, just highly improbable**," he told him. He then vanished, reappearing in front of Orochimaru and throwing a kick into the man's stomach.

Unable to react, Orochimaru impacted one of the trees on the roof, hitting it so hard that a few ribs broke. He rolled to the ground with a groan, before quickly climbing to his feet.

"Okay, screw this," Orochimaru proclaimed. He knew when he was beaten. "I'm outta here!" he shouted. He then made to run to the edge of the roof, knowing that the Sound Four would already be in the process of removing the barrier. However, the Soul Taker reappeared in front of him and grabbed him around the head before he could react.

"**Not so fast, Danny boy. I still have one last thing to show you**," and before Orochimaru could react the Soul Taker spun with the snake sannin in his grip and tossed him into the air. Orochimaru screamed, but he was halted when a glowing golden cross appeared, binding him to each point of the cross. His arms were bound to the sides, his head the top, and his feet the bottom. He looked down at the Soul Taker fearfully, who had his hand raised above his head, a glowing golden crystal embedded into his hand.

"What have you done to me?" Orochimaru gasped. The Soul Taker grinned.

"**Don't worry, it'll be over soon. I hear you want to learn every ninjutsu in the world. Well why don't I show you **_**my**_** technique? Maybe you'll learn something**," the Soul Taker laughed, "**probably not**." Then he pulled back the hand above his head, getting ready to throw a punch. The glowing fist was bulging, getting bigger by several sizes even as he pulled it back. Then the devil tensed, and all his focus went to the snake sannin suspended in the air.

Then with a roar of, "**Lightning Breaker**!" the devil threw his fist forwards, and a projection of golden energy in the shape of a fist roared out of the devil's fist and headed straight for Orochimaru. Seeing the glowing object approaching him at incredible speed, the sannin did the only thing he could do.

He screamed.

An explosion ripped through the manmade forest, tearing trees up out of the roof and blowing shingles off. From above the barrier that had been preventing the anbu from stepping inside to aid the Hokage flickered, before suddenly breaking altogether. From their places in the barrier the Sound Four gave identical cries of alarm, and were enveloped by the explosion that had issued forth from the Lightning Breaker attack, being blow clear across the roof to land, sprawled and unconscious. From his place in the trees the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi would have also been consumed by the explosion, if not for Enma forming into a protective cage that blocked the majority of the explosion from touching him. They then landed onto the roof that was smoldering in the after effects of the explosion.

The Soul Taker stood, daring anyone to oppose him. And in that very moment Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, knew that he was staring at the Devil himself, and that the Devil was staring back.

Hell had come to the Leaf Village.

* * *

To Be Continued…


	3. Things Left Unsaid

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or any other fictitious material included herein. The only things I own are original characters, plots, and themes covered in this story. This story was written for entertainment purposes only, and as such I have made no money off of this work. So don't sue.

* * *

**IMPORTANT! READ FIRST!**

**After the release of History Keeper and the Five Faces of Evil I decided to go for a different approach on writing fanfiction. I'm big on supporting the fanfiction community, and helping authors develop plots and character ideas for new fanfictions. As such, I'm a big supporter of challenges and plot bunnies.**

**So, I decided that any fanfiction that I write after the date of 08-22-2012 will be up for adoption. This includes any materials developed throughout the courses of the stories, from plot lines, OCs (original characters), and themes, as well. It's my hope that my stories will inspire more would-be writers and experienced writers to take on new stories.**

**Provided that anyone who adopts my stories gives credit to me being the original creator in the disclaimer, then I don't care where the stories are taken. Any materials developed by me can be taken from the stories I write that were written after the DATE of 08-22-2012, including any chapters and materials developed by me AFTER the release of this notice.**

**You may also, as the would-be writer, taken any material and ideas from me, even if you don't want to use my whole stories, provided that these ideas and materials are from stories published after the DATE of 08-22-2012.**

**Here's lists of the stories that you CAN and CANNOT use:**

**Usable Stories:**

**Devil's Due**

**History Keeper and the Five Faces of Evil**

**Unusable Stories:**

**My Super Valentine**

**Silence Falls**

**A Super Christmas**

**Dark Times**

**Legends and Lies**

**The Root of Evil**

**Halo: Exodus**

**Kaze Noil: Whispers of the Wind**

**Kaze Noil: The Defiant Wind**

**Kaze Noil: Wind Blade Turning**

**Kenpachi: Immortal Demon**

**Alternate: the Leader Unknown**

**Certain stories, like Kaze Noil, will get a reboot sometime in the near future. However, until the remake, they CANNOT be used by would-be writers wishing to use the material unless prior stated by me. To see if you can write stories based off of my older works, please PM me and I will send a reply stating if I'm okay with you using my work.**

* * *

That being said, enjoy:

* * *

Devil's Due

Chapter III

Things Left Unsaid

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XXX

**Three Weeks Ago…Or was it?**

XXX

* * *

The wind's howl stretched across the dunes like the bloodthirsty call of a wild beast. The moon was full; looming over a vast desert that stretched as far as the eye could see and well beyond. A cold had settled over the dunes, dark and foreboding. A small clutch of desert birds scattered as a malicious shadow passed overhead.

Pressed tight against a sand dune, a makeshift spear clutched in his battered hands, a man perched watching the dark shapes glide across the sky. Brilliant blue eyes studied the apparitions intently, paranoia and years of experience warning the owner of the eyes of the danger that these winged beasts represented.

_Demons…they never rest,_ the man cursed silently in his mind. Wild blonde locks spilled out of a dark hood, dirty and ratty. Every inch of unclothed pale skin was covered in a mixture of dirt and tattered clothes, a natural form of camouflage against the sandy backdrop. The man had fashioned the remnants of several wardrobes onto his body, blocking his skin from the sun's harsh rays. A hood had been created from these garments and poised over his head, which held back the majority of his long mane of blonde hair. Curiously, the only noticeable feature of the man besides his brilliant azure gaze was the strange, dark voodoo markings around his eyes, and the multitude of crude weapons built from bone and stone; many of these bones having not come from a mortal creature.

The man waited for several hours, silent and cautious. His keen eyes tracked every moment the demons made in the sky, dancing their winged dance of terror. When one finally dipped down, gliding to the edge of a nearby oasis, the man cautiously moved across the dunes. A careful eye was kept on the demons in the sky, but another, more hungry gaze was kept on the prospect of prey. He watched as the demon dipped its head to push a beak into the water and sip. Tensing his body, the man turned his eyes once more to the other demons and saw that they were still occupied. Once more turning his attention back to the demon in the oasis, the man waited for the right moment to strike.

The demon raised its head and the man lurched forwards, thrusting his spear into its skull.

* * *

XXX

**Present**

XXX

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"Hokage-sama!" several voices shouted.

Hiruzen Sarutobi turned and spotted his anbu making their way towards him. Since the Sound Four were unconscious, the barrier had been undone. The Hokage leaned heavily against Enma, tired and overwhelmed by the things that he had just learned.

"It's all right," Hiruzen told the ninja. He heaved a cough into a hand, and steadied himself as best he could, "Please see to it that Orochimaru's surviving ninja club is hospitalized and watched over. I still need to settle this mess with the Sound and Sand villages before I handle what to do with them. Yugao Uzuki is to be placed under command until I return."

"Aye, Hokage-sama," the group of anbu chorused before moving to do as he had ordered. Hiruzen stayed a moment to make sure that everything was in order before taking to the rooftops in the direction of where the main conflict was in the village.

When arriving, Hiruzen was startled to discover that legions of undead were combatting the Sand and Sound ninja and any Leaf ninja who attacked them. Briefly, Hiruzen reflected on his conversation with the SoulTaker in the short moments before the anbu had appeared.

"_I am only the first of many, old man. Tell your men to not interfere with our business and they won't be hurt… otherwise, I cannot guarantee their safety…"_

"It seems that we are a little late," Enma growled, having seen the destruction. Hiruzen said nothing and just gripped his faithful companion in preparation.

There were roughly a couple of hundred Sand and Sound ninja, and two giant summoned snakes. But there was quite a bit more undead soldiers tearing at any ninja close to them. The Leaf ninja were in the minority, backed against a building and holding their own pretty well. But they were outnumbered 5 to one. Hiruzen trailed his eyes over the massive shinobi brawl. His aged but brilliant mind began calculating, judging the correct actions that needed to be taken. With a final nod, he set his features.

With a massive exertion of force, Hiruzen whirled into the fray, spinning and snapping his bo staff wildly into the hordes of ninja and undead. With every thrust of his staff several ninja were thrown aside, bones broken or dislocated. He was a flurry of motion, spinning and stabbing in all directions. He suddenly thrust his staff into the ground and the pavement collapsed and shot upwards in great, twisted spikes, skewering several dozen ninja and undead in their places.

Unprepared for his approach, the ninja were slow to react to his actions. The summons attempted to attack Hiruzen, but the hokage merely side stepped the lashing snakes and then brought the heavy weight of his bo staff on one snake's crown, before whirling around and delivering a strike into the second snake's skull, tossing both aside like so much garbage. The undead immediately turned their attention to him. Moaning, reaching out, the dead shambled towards him.

Hiruzen paid no mind to the undead, slashing and thrashing his bo staff into the hordes of living and dead alike. With a simple flick of Enma Hiruzen tossed chunks of debris at the ninja and dead, crushing the living and dead alike under the heavy weight of the pavement. Hiruzen spun his bo staff once more to push back the line of the horde, before he jammed his staff into the pavement and began speeding through hand signs.

When he stopped, his mouth expanded considerably and he pulled back. Then, with a mighty push he spat out great gobs of clay at the gathered ninja and undead. The ninja were blown aside and the Legion fell over from the attack. Then, Hiruzen started another string of hand signs. His mouth expanded again and he blew out a torrent of flames that consumed the living and dead alike. Screams and dismayed moaning reached his ears as the scent of charred flesh reached him.

Hiruzen then took up his bo staff again and jabbed the end of it into the ground. The pavement cracked under his mighty blow, and the tip wedged itself just within the upper layer of cement. Hiruzen grit his teeth and exerted as much power as his aged body could deliver, and pushed on his end of the staff. The ground cracked, and with a mighty heave Hiruzen tore the street in half and tossed it in over itself, crushing the remaining horde under the weight of the street.

The summoned snakes rose up, having caught their breath and came lunging at him. Hiruzen merely jumped into the air and landed onto the smallest snake's snout. He thrust his bo staff into the creature's snout, earning a pained shriek. He then blurred through hand signs and then touched his hand to the creature's crown.

The snake suddenly gave a shriek and collapsed in on itself. Hiruzen pulled his staff away and jumped aside as the snake suddenly began shrinking and twisting into a ball. Hiruzen paid little mind to the summon's predicament as he had to avoid the bigger snake, but he did pay attention enough to see that the smaller snake had collapsed inwards and died in a gory display of spontaneous crushing.

Hiruzen swiped at the bigger snake with his bo staff. The snake avoided him, cautious. Hiruzen dug his staff into the ground and flipped sections of the pavement at the snake, watching as it weaved aside the chunks of cement. With careful aim, Hiruzen's staff shot from his hand and speared into the snake, pinning it to a building. Hiruzen rushed through a few hand signs and then blew out a giant fireball that claimed the snake's life.

Enma returned to Hiruzen with an annoyed huff, staggering away from the flaming serpent.

"Was that really necessary?" he asked. However, he was more concerned with the way Hiruzen was breathing, asking, "Are you all right old friend?"

"Yes," Hiruzen told him. He then turned his attention to the gathered Leaf ninja that were mopping up the last of the Sand and Sound ninja and the undead legionaries.

"Hokage-sama!" and anbu saluted him as Hiruzen hailed him. Hiruzen nodded his greeting, and launched quickly into matters.

"Anbu, report," Hiruzen told him. He listened to the anbu as the shinobi explained to him the situation in the village. Hiruzen thought briefly on what was happening and began planning accordingly.

"Thank you, Wagtail-san," Hiruzen told the anbu. The anbu saluted again and the Hokage continued, "I'd like it if your squad would go assist my student Jiraiya in securing the North gate. And please inform him to return to my office when all this is over."

"Yes, sir!" the anbu shouted. Hiruzen watched as the anbu moved over to his squad that were finishing up and then saw the group disappear. Hiruzen turned his attention to another anbu.

"You, there," Hiruzen said. The anbu saluted. Hiruzen continued, "Please inform Kakashi and Guy Might that they are to secure the East Gate. Please assist them in his endeavor."

"Yes sir!" the anbu shouted. Hiruzen stopped him from leaving.

"Also, please inform Kakashi to return to my office when all this is over. I have much to discuss." Hiruzen explained.

The anbu saluted again and disappeared to follow orders. Hiruzen heaved a sigh and began planning.

"Do not feel responsible for the young one's plight, old friend. Naruto made his choice. We just have to respect his wishes and do our best to make sure no one is hurt because they were quick to act," Enma told Hiruzen. The old man nodded.

"Of course, old friend," Hiruzen smiled.

* * *

XXX

* * *

"What do you make of this false night, Kakashi?" Guy questioned while tying up the last group of sound ninja. From the other side of the street Kakashi was likewise tying up his own set of sand ninja.

"You said it was spawned from some kind of black goop that shot out of the ground, right?" Kakashi asked. When Guy nodded his answer Kakashi turned his attention to the sky, peering at it with his uncovered sharigan. "Well, from what you've told me about it and from what I'm seeing, I'm guessing its some kind of barrier."

"What are you seeing?" Guy asked, curious. Kakashi shrugged and kicked one of the downed sand ninja who groaned.

"Chakra, and lots of it," Kakashi explained. Guy peered up at the black sky.

"Do you think we'll be able to break it?" Guy asked. He was the expert on taijutsu for a reason; Kakashi knew much more about the other fields of being a ninja then he could ever. Kakashi thought briefly for a moment.

"It's likely," Kakashi said, lowering his mask to cover his sharigan eye once more, "with Jiraiya, myself, you, Hokage-sama, and a few others we might be able to break the seal if we can supply enough chakra. Both Jiraiya and Hokage-sama are seal masters, so they could easily form the correct seals needed to break the barrier, it's just a matter of supplying enough chakra to them."

"Perhaps we should meet with Hokage-sama. He did after all call for us. I'm curious what he has to tell us that is so important in lull of this failed cou…" Guy told him. Kakashi nodded his consent. However, before the two men could take a step an explosion above them made them whip their heads to the sky, alert and anxious.

Sparks and star bursts exploded in a dazzling display of relief. Even as they watched more fireworks exploded in the sky. Several ninja surrounding them paused to marvel at the display, relief clear on their faces and grins rising to pale cheeks. However, both Guy and Kakashi could clearly detect that something was amiss.

Golden lights flickered in the sky, like fireflies dancing in the night. These lights would circle each other, weaving together and forming odd and beautiful patterns, before meeting in a collision of sparks and explosions that mimicked the display of fireworks. Kakashi gave Guy a meaningful look.

"Perhaps we should hasten our meeting with the Hokage-sama," the message was obvious in Kakashi's words. Whatever was causing these "fireworks" couldn't possibly be of the good.

Not in the least.

* * *

XXX

* * *

"Still no change?" Asuma's words were punctuated by the loud explosion of fireworks outside. Kurenai's frown was made even deeper by her aggravation that someone could be _celebrating _when her best friend was holed up in a hospital fighting for her life.

"None," Kurenai told the man. She turned her attention back to the bed that Anko was resting in. Asuma shifted uncomfortably on his feet.

"Were they ever able to figure out whatever was wrong with her?" the man questioned his kinda-girlfriend. Kurenai offered him a brief glance, before turning a thoughtful gaze on the bedridden woman.

"No…" her voice was near a whisper.

"Listen," Asuma said, obviously grasping for something to say in lull of the uncomfortable silence that had settled over the red eyed woman, "about tonight…do you want to talk about it?" Kurenai closed her eyes.

"Asuma…I don't think I'm ready yet," she told the man. Asuma nodded.

"Well if you want to talk about it, you know I'm here…" he told her. Kurenai turned to him.

"Yes, I know…but I meant about 'us'," her words made the smile on his face turn into a startled frown.

"What?" he asked, nearly breathless; what was that supposed to mean?

"I don't mean that I don't have feelings for you or don't want to be with you," Kurenai hurried to explain before he got the wrong idea. "I just don't feel ready yet to commit myself to a real relationship."

"Why?" Asuma asked. She was really confusing him.

"Asuma, we're ninja. We kill for a living. Naturally we're going to get into situations when our lives are put on the line," Kurenai told him. Asuma nodded his head to show that he was following along so far. Kurenai continued, "It's just, I've never been in a relationship with anyone before since I became a ninja, and no one I've loved has ever been seriously hurt before. But now, seeing Anko in this state, it got me thinking…"

"…You don't know if you're willing to take the risk?" Asuma said, finally getting where she was going with this. He understood now. Over the last year as they had gotten to know each other Asuma had learned that Kurenai, being from a civilian family, had become a kunoichi with a lot of preconceived notions of what to expect of the ninja lifestyle. The fact that it had never set in to her mind that she or someone she loved could die from their work had obviously never set in yet, despite being a ninja for a few years now.

"I think I understand…" Asuma took a breath, "…would you like some space while you figure things out?" he asked, hoping that by offering her this that he wouldn't be damning any chance he had with this woman that he had grown to care for.

"Yes," Kurenai closed her eyes and cradled herself with her arms, turning her back on him. She was displaying a very vulnerable side of herself that Asuma had only seen once or twice. "I'm trying to wrap myself around the idea that I could lose Anko in the next few days, and I don't think worrying about what could happen to my boyfriend in the future will help me any…" Asuma nodded.

"When you figure it all out will you let me know where I stand?" Asuma asked. Kurneai nodded.

"Of course," she sniffed. Asuma stared at the woman sadly for a few moments more before leaving her in the room with her possibly dying friend.

Kurenai settled herself in her chair and watched her best friend fighting to take every breath. Anko was pale, paler than normal, so much so that her veins stood out on her ivory skin. Her lips were chapped horribly, with dark rings around her eyes, a hollow look about her, and her hair wild. She was also still leaking black ooze out of her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. The doctors hadn't discovered what the cause of the ooze was, or where it came from, or even what it was, yet. But they all could tell one thing: it was killing Anko.

Kurenai had never wished more than now that she could talk to Anko. Anko, despite being somewhat off kilter most of the time, was very insightful and was always willing to lend an ear or shoulder, and wasn't afraid to give her opinions on things she felt strongly for. Anko was also the more experienced of the two, being several years older than Kurenai, and had obviously been sheltering Kurenai from this aspect of their life. She knew that Anko would know what to say to help ease her fragile heart of the uncertainties before her.

But Anko was dying, and there wasn't really anything Kurenai could do to help the woman. All she could do was wait and hope for the best.

Fireworks exploded outside, but inside it felt to Kurenai as if she waiting for her own death.

* * *

XXX

* * *

Iruka stopped to stare incredulous at the sky. The kids that were still around waiting for their parents to pick them up were pointing up at the sky in wonder. Iruka winced and turned his attention away from the sky, intending to busy himself with something and not think about the foolishness of some people that would celebrate after so many had died. This was a time of grieving he felt; there was no place for fireworks here.

"Iruka-san," a voice broke him from his thoughts. Iruka looked to the source of the voice and found and anbu waiting patiently. Seeing that he had the teacher's attention, the elephant masked anbu started on ahead, "Hokage-sama has requested your presence."

"Did he say why?" Iruka asked, his mind working to think of what could be the reason for the unexpected summons. The only thing he could think of was if the old man had learned of Naruto's location and health. The thought was thrilling enough on its own, but he was uncomfortable with the timing of this summons and the appearance of the "Legion" and the cou from the Sand and Sound villages. Surely it couldn't be a coincidence?

"No, he did not," the anbu said. Iruka thought silently for a second before nodding his consent.

"Thank you, I'll be on my way immediately," Iruka told him. The anbu nodded and disappeared, obviously to direct his skills to other efforts. Iruka took a moment to make sure that the other teachers had everything in hand with the children before taking to the rooftops. All the while his mind settled onto one thought.

What had Naruto gotten up to this time?

* * *

XXX

* * *

Tsume watched her daughter tend to her injured partner thoughtfully. Like it had been for the last few hours, Tsume's mind dwelled on the presence of the winged demon that she had briefly fought and how different it was compared to other demons she knew about; specifically the tailed beasts.

Like the tailed beasts it had carried the same sense of wrongness. Having spent time in the demoness's presence and that of the Nine Tail's, Tsume could clearly remember how it seemed as if the two demons were a living sin; a complete perversion of nature. Not only were the demons' chakra was violent and downright evil, but an unnatural aura clung to them like a glove. The demoness's aura had naturally been weaker than the Nine Tails, who was said to be the strongest demon of hell. But their auras were so alike that Tsume swore that it was like facing a mini Nine Tailed Fox.

However, despite that the demoness was obviously humanoid, unlike the Nine Tails which was in the shape of a fox. Granted, it was a perverted human shape, with exaggerated proportions and complete with a horned helmet – or was it a skull – that was definitely NOT human. However, the overall shape was mostly human, and definitely female, surprising, as Tsume couldn't recall hearing any tales of recent female demon activities. It made this all the more curious.

Even despite the defeat of the Legion and the two ninja villages, Tsume knew that they weren't out of the woodwork yet. The sky was still dark, and an evil aura clung to their village like a second glove. A malevolent force was at work here, conspiring against the village, and Tsume was certain that the female demon that she had fought above the rooftops was at the center of it.

When the fireworks first started, Tsume knew them for what they were. Hana thought them fantastic, and welcomed them with an easy smile. But Tsume knew better. Her keen, experienced eyes could see easily the golden creatures zipping through the sky in a weird dance that was lost to her. She was even more confounded that the demons would draw attention to themselves by creating these "fireworks" when they clashed in the sky.

The trepidation that Tsume had been feeling since she had first faced the female demon was back, and in full force. Paranoia ate away at her, and despite her daughter assuring her that everything was fine, Tsume knew in fact that it was not.

The only question was to see if the Hokage thought on a similar page.

* * *

XXX

* * *

The day outside the barrier turned to night, and night into pre-dawn. A mist settled in the village, and a malicious chill rose. The fireworks that had mesmerized so many last night had long since finished, and an eerie quiet settled over the village.

Naruto woke slowly, a pleased growl rising to his lips. He was lying in a bed of soft grass, and his skin was sticky with dew, the remnants of sweat, and sexual fluids. Cuddled to his side was the naked body of a much older Hinata Hyuuga. Her delicious, supple flesh was clutched loosely in his idle grip. Naruto flexed his fingers around her buttocks and smiled to himself.

Naruto was not a nice man – he would admit that freely to himself. In the four weeks since he had fallen into the ravine and was taken in by the darkness he had been constantly tempered and tested to prove his worth and then to grow in strength. The hardest lessons of all were the ones that had conflicted with his moral code, which had eventually waned and collapsed in due time.

He couldn't really pin point when the change had occurred; but he had found himself one day finding that killing humans, eating souls, torturing anyone that annoyed him had become almost second nature. That wasn't to say that he was ALL bad, but he wasn't nice, either. He just had a strong feeling for punishment, which was convoluted by what remained of his shattered sense of justice.

Few liked to recall, but the devil's job was not to antagonize humanity, but to punish it. In the early days of hell, it had been lawless and chaotic. The darkness had brought order by selecting those who would lead the demons; devils born of the flesh of humans that the darkness hand selected.

However, the first devils were always feuding and quarreling amongst themselves over the simplest, petty reasons. In the wars that followed, one lone devil rose above the others and claimed dominion over all that he saw. He brought order and peace to the chaotic world, and introduced a sense of justice, albeit twisted. Then, after many years of quiet ruling over hell, the devil, growing tired, would turn his gaze elsewhere.

Humanity appeared once more. The devil that discovered them, while fascinated, judged them faulty, weak, and petty. The human world then was just as lawless and chaotic as hell had been not long ago. There was no order, no justice, no sense of direction to move themselves along, and so the devil decided that the humans needed a strict, guiding hand to nudge them along in the right direction. What humans lacked was the sense of justice that would spur them together to form a working coexistence with each other to form a working society. Knowing this, the devil, with the blessing of the darkness, created the human soul and bound it to human flesh.

However, the soul alone wasn't enough to bring peace to the human world. The devil, beside himself with what to do, found inspiration from seeing a fellow devil train their pet demon. Obviously, a system of rewards versus punishment had to be built to encourage the pursuit of good over evil. A paradise and desolation had to be created.

So, having commuted with the darkness, the devil and the darkness created the light and heaven. The light would act as the inspiration of good, and heaven would be the reward that humans would seek. The devil then settled himself as ruler of hell and determined that hell would be the human's punishment for acting upon their evil instincts.

So the two major factions were created and humanity went on, spinning their own lies and myths about the great beyond. But the darkness and light remained, in balance of each other, and the devils had acted as the executioners of humanity's sentences ever since.

It was only recently that Naruto had learned of this history. The darkness itself had told him. But to do his job he had to dull his more pleasant emotions and ideas and encourage his darker side so that he may deaden himself to the suffering of others. His very job meant that he would be the tormentor of damned souls for the rest of his days, and without deadening his own heart he would easily go mad.

However, being here with Hinata was…nice...

Naruto had no illusions that he was in love with Hinata. Even despite having sex Naruto knew that that didn't mean that he would suddenly grow feelings for her. However, she served a purpose, though he didn't know what, yet. He hadn't even known who she was until the darkness had sensed the girl and turned his attention to her with the sole instruction to get her on his side. And so Naruto had struck an accord with her; she would be his weapon so long as he granted her one wish. And that wish had been to be with him…in a relationship.

Naruto was still trying to wrap his mind around the thought that he was in a relationship with anyone, even if it was a relationship devoid of feeling. Oh, he knew that he could very well one day grow feelings for the girl, but presently he did not.

He hadn't entertained thoughts of having a relationship with anyone in a long time. Ever since he had thrown aside his crush on Sakura in favor of surviving in the depths of hell, Naruto hadn't given much thought to the subject. And truth be told he wasn't comfortable with the idea, either. However, he would honor his word, and what became of it? Well, he'd have to wait and see…

But being here, with her naked body pressed up against him, it was nice. He could almost forget his responsibilities and his goals in these few, private moments, if only because his body was sated, and he had a warm, supple female pressed against him.

...Almost…

* * *

XXX

* * *

Hinata woke slowly.

Her mind was slightly fuzzy. She was suspended in that glorious moment of half-conscious thought while pressed against a warm, firm but soft body that provided her much comfort. She could feel cool air and chilly dampness pressing into her sides and back, but the warm body she was pressed against seemed to bat away the majority of the chill and discomfort. She shifted experimentally, rubbing her legs into the other body's legs, her fuzzy mind unable to remember where she was or who she was with.

"You're certainly enjoying yourself," Hinata blinked her eyes open in surprise at the sound of the voice, staring into the face of one Naruto Uzumaki. He was smirking. Hinata blushed.

She stared at him dumbly for a few moments, her mouth working, trying to form words. After several moments her brain restarted and she heaved a sigh.

"What time is it?" she asked. Naruto chuckled for a moment. Hinata didn't know what he found so amusing, but his quiet laughter brought a smile to her lips.

"Time enough," Naruto told her. He slowly sat up, and Hinata followed, taking a moment to savor the feeling of his body pressed against hers. "We have much to do and little time to do it, after all."

"I was kind of hoping we could stay like this for a few moments more," Hinata told him truthfully, and confidently. He smiled, but it didn't meet his eyes.

"Unfortunately, no – I have to meet with the old man and whoever he's rallied to try and 'convince' me to return to the Leaf. I also have to claim my inheritance, to set up a power base and get my foot in the ruling body's door. I then need to tie up things with the other potential the darkness sensed in this village…" he explained. Hinata's face scrunched up in an annoyed expression.

"A…potential…?" she tried the word.

"Someone who has the potential to be a devil…" he shrugged unhelpfully. Hinata pulled away and looked at him as if he had grown a second head.

"Is it…a woman?" Hinata asked. She knew it wasn't really her place to be asking, but she couldn't help the wave of trepidation that washed over her.

"As a matter of fact…it is…" Naruto studied her for a moment. Hinata made to move away from him but Naruto stilled her by placing a hand on her shoulder, "you're…uncomfortable…"

"I am," she admitted. There was no use in hiding the truth from him. He narrowed his eyes.

"Don't be. I'm committed to granting your wish," he told her honestly. He was, after all. He was a man of his word; and despite not knowing why the darkness was so dead set on her joining the Legion, he had every intention on fulfilling his end of the bargain.

"Do you love me?" she asked simply.

"No, not yet," he told her, again honestly. It didn't serve them any good to lie to her, when he now relied on her support. "But I'm trying," he said. She nodded.

"And what if you fall for this woman? How will you be able to keep your end of the deal then?" Hinata asked him.

"Have you no confidence in yourself?" he asked. Hinata looked at him with wide eyes at his words. "Do you really think that I could offer you such a deal unless I was sure that I could one day fill my end of the bargain? Even if I were to fall for her I'd still make room in my heart to hopefully one day fall for you. You just need to help me learn to love you."

"That's a tall order to ask of me," Hinata told him. Violence briefly shined in Naruto's eyes, but was suppressed quickly. "Asking me if I'd be willing to share you with another?"

"Then you should not have asked for this in our deal. I am merely trying to assure it," his voice was hard, with overtones of malevolence. However, his eyes softened as he raised a hand to silently stroke her cheek. "Do not ask of me what you are unwilling to take."

"I know," Hinata said, looking away, "A deal with the devil, right?" she asked, mirthless laughter rising in her throat.

"We are both devils now," Naruto elaborated patiently, "we each have our own agendas. It's only natural that our wants and plans won't coincide once and awhile."

"I just thought," Hinata said, a sad expression on her face, "that when you offered me the deal that you returned my feelings."

He was looking at her intently. Hinata could feel his burning gaze on her, making her uncomfortable. Finally he said, "I didn't even know who you were until the darkness pointed you out to me. How am I supposed to return your feelings when we've only known each other for a day?" she bit her lip.

"Then why did you offer the deal?" she asked. Tears were collecting in her eyes. She was surprised when she felt strong arms wrap around her and a chin be placed atop her head.

"When I offered the deal, I fully expected your wish to be power, or revenge, or something of that sort. I didn't expect your wish to be that I love you," he explained. Hinata was going to say something, but he stopped her by saying, "but I never would have made the deal unless I felt it was a strong possibility that I could one day return your feelings. Like I said, I'm fully committed to one day learning to love you."

"How can you be so accepting of this? There's no guarantee that you will," she pointed out.

"Again, I wouldn't have made the deal unless I was certain that I could one day grow to love you," he told her. Hinata turned to look at him in confusion, a question on her lips. He answered before she could say anything, "In those few moments when we connected our minds in the arena, you bore your soul to me. I could see everything, good and bad, of you, from your memories, to your quirks, faults, and even the feelings that you've been harboring for me for so many years. After seeing all that, how can I hate you? You have one of the purist souls I've ever seen, and you've all but given it to me. That's special. After seeing that, I KNOW that I can grow to love you; but it will take time."

After hearing his answer, Hinata settled down, resting herself in his arms with a contented sigh. She could tell that Naruto was thinking now, of what she didn't know, but he wasn't resisting their embrace, like she thought he would normally.

Then he asked, "What do you intend to do, now?" Hinata blinked.

"You don't have anything planned for me?" she asked, confused. She was sure that he would have wanted her to do something from hearing the things that he had planned.

"It's too early for any of my plans to truly take root," Naruto told her, and Hinata couldn't help thinking that he was being awfully forthcoming. "And unlike the undead members of the Legion you ARE your own person. I imagine that you have your own interests to take care of. I'm simply curious about what you want to do while I'm busy tying up my loose ends."

Hinata thought about it briefly.

"I need to go see my family. My father and sister are likely wondering where I am. I should also go see Kurenai and try to explain things to her," at his expression she explained, "she recognized me yesterday when I was fighting Gaara."

"I see," he said slowly. She couldn't tell if he was disappointed or angry. But he seemed surprisingly calm.

"Do you have any overarching plans involving me that I should be aware of, or are you going to keep that to yourself?" she asked him, not fully serious.

"I'll let you know when some of my plans start taking effect. You'll likely be needed then," he told her.

"How?" she asked him. He shook his head.

"It's too early to tell, yet," they slowly climbed to their feet and he looked to her, "you shouldn't worry yourself just yet. You'll find out eventually."

"I don't know if I should be glad or annoyed," she told him. He smiled, but again it didn't reach his eyes. Hinata was beginning to get an image of who he was – and she was hoping that she'd one day get him to trust freely again.

"Don't be. It really doesn't matter at the moment. Not until I can talk to old man Sarutobi and deal with the mess with the other potential that the darkness selected," he told her. She sighed.

"I know, but I can't help but worry," she told him. He didn't even attempt to smile this time.

"I know," he took a breath, and continued, "You know how to contact me. If something happens, let me know and I'll come running," this time she was smiling.

"Thank you," she said. She fully expected him to leave her then, but instead he dipped his head forwards and brushed his lips lightly across her own before pulling back and making a hasty retreat.

When Hinata regained her wits and looked around she couldn't help but shriek, "Where's my bloody clothes?!"

* * *

XXX

* * *

"Anko," Kurenai was growing tired. She had been here since the hospital had opened, and even then she was exhausted from her prior battles last night and the drama that had unfolded; but this was all even further complicated by her argument with Asuma that left her feeling tired beyond her years. Her mind was also straying, leading her down a path that made her truly frightened about her choices in life; Anko's predicament, lying broken in a hospital bed and possibly dying, just made all her indecision and hesitations all the more apparent.

Of course, Anko didn't react to her name being called. Still, despite that, Kurenai watched the woman, her mind frantic. She knew that she was beginning to panic, but she couldn't stop herself. Tears gathered in her eyes and she clenched her hands tightly to her skirt. Despite her attempts to be brave she still heaved a sob all the same.

"Anko…why won't you wake up…?" Kurenai asked bitterly. Of course no one answered her. The red eyed jounin sensei slowly climbed out of her chair and approached the snake charmer's bedside.

Kneeling down, Kurenai took the woman's hand into her own, her forehead now resting against Anko's knuckles. A heart wrenching sob was pulled from her throat, and she collapsed in an exhausted heap. For all the world, she appeared as if she were a woman mourning the death of her lover, instead of mourning the future death of her friend.

"Why…is this happening to us?" she asked no one in particular, not expecting an answer; which made it all the more alarming when she got one.

"Because she isn't happy," a deep, gravelly voice broke the silence. Startled, Kurenai was slow to turn. As she turned, Kurenai went to lash out at the source of the voice, but a strong hand gripped her around the throat and held her aloft with ease. "Do not be hasty to meet your death," the voice continued. Kurenai looked up, and gazed into a calm, azure gaze.

Fear began to rise in her heart. Frozen where she stood, she waited for the man's next actions. She cast her gaze over to Anko's still form and lamented her inability to properly protect her friend.

The hand retreated.

Kurenai collapsed against the floor, grasping at her own neck with a pale, terrified complexion. The man took several steps away from Kurenai and waited patiently for the woman to regain her bearings.

"You…aren't here to kill us?" Kurenai's throat was sore, but she still managed to say the words. The man's gaze was not kind, but the violence in his eyes was obviously being suppressed with a cool hand.

"You do not concern me," he told her. Kurenai looked up again and saw that he was looking at Anko, "your death means nothing to me."

"What do you want with Anko?" Kurenai asked. The man turned his gaze back to her, his head titling as he watched her thoughtfully.

"She is not well…" the man said, sounding as if he was talking about the weather, "The power that I have given her is reacting badly to the power contained by her 'curse'. The two powers are conflicting inside her, and slowly killing her," he explained. "If she had continued to hold her link with the Legion my power would have destroyed the other, but she didn't, and so right now the other power is fighting mine."

"You…did this to Anko?" determination suddenly rose in her eyes. Kurenai slowly stood with her body tense. The man turned his gaze back to Anko, as if dismissing her entirely.

"No, I did not. She did it to herself," he told her.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kurenai held herself ready, looking for an avenue of attack.

"When Hinata was attacked," Kurenai sucked in her breath at the man's knowledge, and what it possibly meant, "it provided enough of a disturbance for the other power to fight back. In that moment, Anko had the choice whether to pursue the power I have given her and fight the other power, or give into the other power and fight mine. She chose neither and retreated into the depths of her mind." Kurenai looked to her friend, suddenly more concerned then she had been previously. "I had not been expecting that," he admitted.

"But you forced this power on her?" Kurenai looked to the man for answers now.

"No, I did not," the man told her. He turned back to her, "Like Hinata I offered her a deal for my power. She agreed, however, when the disturbance was created and the other power attacked, it affected her enough that she no longer wished for my power and tried to pull out of the pact we made." His eyes shined with dark intent. Kurenai shivered. "You don't back out of deals that I make…"

"It sounds to me like you're forcing it on her," Kurenai said suspiciously. Her hands reached towards her kunai pouch slowly. The man tracked her movement but didn't move to stop her.

"What I mean to say is, you don't back out of deals that I make because you CAN'T. The old ways that empower the deals made with me are absolute, and if you try to back out the old ways will kill you. The only reason that she is still alive is because she hasn't been able to separate from my power yet. But just trying to has caused her much harm," he informed. Kurenai looked to Anko again.

The man said nothing as he watched Kurenai adopt a defeated expression. She was obviously tired and filled with worry, but she managed to hold her wits for the most part. He was curious though when her hands moved away from her kunai pouch. Kurenai moved towards the bed that Anko was lying in and held Anko's hand comfortingly; both for herself and the unconscious woman.

"Is that really true?" Kurenai asked a tremble in her voice. "How can I trust you?"

"Do you no trust Hinata's judgment?" he asked, though with no infliction in his voice. Kurenai turned to him now.

"Does…she believe you are Naruto?" obviously she recognized the man as the same one in the chunin exams. The man stared at her with a hard expression.

"I AM Naruto," he stated this, simply. Kurenai went to say something but the man stopped her, "really. There are reasons why I look and act the way that I do now, and Hinata knows that I will tell her these in due time. I repeat; do you trust Hinata's judgment?"

Kurenai thought for several moments before nodding her head.

"Good. I will need your help if you wish to save Anko. She only has a few hours at best before her body gives up; we must hurry," he explained. Kurenai once more looked to Anko, before turning to the man and nodding her accent.

"Then let's do it," she responded. The man smiled, and it wasn't pleasant.

* * *

XXX

* * *

Anko existed somewhere on the brink of madness. Dark shapes and cruel voices swam around her, filling her head with confusing sensations. Buried in a pit of shadows, Anko clutched at her head, reared back and screamed to the heavens. She was distantly aware that blood was trickling down her arms, forming a pool that rose to her knees. She was also, alarmingly, naked as the day she was born.

The pool of blood rose up over her knees, inching up her body with every drop that was shed from her skull. Anko felt like she was digging at the tender flesh of her skull, unable to contain the pain and horror at the images and sounds that assaulted her. The particular tilt of her ex-sensei's voice mocking her was particularly nasty, and a sense of depression settled over her as the blood crested over her face and began choking the life from her.

An image of her, younger, broken, being found by the anbu as she escapes Orochimaru's clutches. Sad, weathered eyes looking down at her while she rests on an examination bed. A multitude of voices swirl around her. Red eyes looking at her cautiously; then the next a hint of familiarity; a red eyed woman and a dark haired man enjoying themselves, not knowing of their silent watcher. Silver hair, grey eyes; an unreturned crush; there were feelings of hopelessness, of loneliness even when in a crowd. Then, blue eyes, a cruel smile, but a promise – _make the pain go away!_ Her silent plea to the heavens…but it was hell that answered.

A current now… Anko was swept away in waves of blood, choking and thrashing for perchance. She flailed helplessly. Couldn't breathe…couldn't breathe…

Fighting now… So much blood… She felt the thrill of the kill, the power coursing through her veins. It was intoxicating. Yes, no more pain. She was above it. She existed to cause pain in others. No more fear, no more sadness, no more loneliness – _Please god, make the pain go away!_

Getting dark… can't breathe…can't breathe…

Red eyes again – worried now. The urge to kill is strong; she couldn't fight it – _Enemy of the Legion! We are Legion! Flesh for the Beast!_ Silver-hair was back; fighting; blood, on her hands, in her mouth, in her eyes. Red eyes pleading with her… Pain now, stabbing into her heart, pulsing in her brain. Her very soul ached.

_Please god just let it end!_

_Can't breathe…can't…breath!_

Strong, familiar hands broke through the surface, grasping her around the arms. A mighty heft and Anko's head cleared the surface, gasping for breath. Her eyes blinked blearily open.

Red eyes…

Kurenai.

* * *

XXX

* * *

"Anko!" Anko realized that she was staring into the moon's cool surface. She blinked, suddenly aware of the world around her. A shadow past over her face, and Anko found herself staring into familiar red eyes.

"Nai…chan?" Anko tried to form words but she felt strangely lethargic, as if every movement was a chore. Slowly the woman's face came into focus, and Anko found that she was staring into the relieved face of her best friend, Kurenai.

"Of, thank god," Kurenai said, relieved, crushing the purple haired woman in a fierce hug. Anko wheezed and tried to wrap her hands around her friend, but her arms only twitched, and numb needle prick pains ghosted up her flesh.

"S…mth…g's….w…ng…" Anko stumbled over her words, her face scrunching up in frustration and a little fear. Another shadow past over her head; violent blue eyes stared down at her.

"Easy now… You're lucky we found you when we did – any longer in the River Styxx and you would have been truly lost…" though the words were supposed to be comforting, the voice used was anything but.

"What's going to happen now – Naruto?" Anko reached for Kurenai as the woman turned to the blue eyed man, Naruto, but her numb fingers were feather light. Trying to lift her head to get a look around her, Anko was dejected to learn that her neck muscles were still numb, too.

"In this world I don't go by the name Naruto – I am the Devil known as the SoulTaker," the man chided Kurenai. Then, in answer to her question, he said, "Getting her out of the River Styxx was the worst part. The Blood of the Damned Souls would have torn her soul to pieces in due time. However, she's weak right now, and she won't survive the trip back to the physical realm unless she makes the choice…" he trailed off.

"Choice…?" Anko managed to raise her head enough to see a blurry shadow with blue eyes standing in front of the moon, looking down at her with barely suppressed malicious.

"When will we be able to take her out of here?" Kurenai directed the question to the man.

"Soon… her demons won't wait around for long. Sooner or later they will come for her, and she'll have to make the choice…" the man was kneeling down now. Anko saw the barest flash of a handsome, if rugged face, before a hand blocked her vision. "Sleep," the man insisted. And despite herself Anko felt her eyelids lowering as drowsiness overcame her.

Anko welcomed the bliss of sleep.

* * *

XXX

* * *

The wind was howling.

At first, it only dimly registered in the deepest recesses of her mind. Conscious thought was slow to return to her, and Anko drifted for a bit, content to let the world pass her by. But eventually, her thoughts slowly crawled out of the darkness and she became aware. With her eyes closed, Anko felt cool and slightly damp, and her ears rang with the roar of the winds.

Someone shifted beside her, and a sound like a shoe rubbing across dry rock assaulted her ears, almost drowned out by the sound of the wind if the source of the noise hadn't been so close.

When Anko opened her eyes she found darkness looming over her. Panicking for a moment, the purple haired woman grasped wildly in the darkness. Firm hands snatched her own hands into a rough grasp, stilling her frantic movements. A jumble of incoherent words spilled out, carried by a rough male voice. Anko blinked owlishly in the direction of the voice and suddenly the world came into focus.

Grey and blue met.

A distant part of Anko recognized that the man holding her now was the very same man from the chunin stadium that had claimed to be Naruto. His angular features were stretched into a mask of calm annoyance, as if he couldn't decide what to make of her. He studied her with the most brilliant azure eyes, brighter than the ocean blue and for a moment Anko felt a wave of embarrassment rush over her at the intensity that he was gazing at her with.

"Be still – right now you can ill afford an injury," he advised. Anko watched as the man carefully lowered her hands to her lap and pulled away enough so that the woman could slowly push herself to a sitting position.

"You – who are you?" Anko's throat hurt as she spoke, but she still managed the words easily enough. She directed her question to the man, and watched him carefully.

"I am as I have been," he answered, vaguely. He waved his hand in a sign of dismal and asked, "Do you ache?"

Anko's hands reached to her throat, a little alarmed to feel the stickiness of dried fluids on her skin. She raised her hands to her eyes and saw that every inch of skin was covered in blood.

"Yes, it's alarming. I get it. But none of that blood is yours. You've just had the unfortunate circumstance of drowning in the River Styxx…" the man explained. His eyes were on her throat, however, and his next question was understandable, "Does your throat hurt?"

"My throat's a little sore," she admitted, ringing her hands in her lap in an uncharacteristic display of vulnerability that made her uncomfortable. There were reasons for this, the number one being that she was in an unknown place, with a mysterious, positively violent man, with no back up to speak of. She was alone.

Her eyes darkened for a moment, thoughts she had suppressed for years rising to the surface. The man spoke.

"Natural – the nightmares that you've been having were rather violent," he told her. Anko looked as if she had been struck.

Anko turned her gaze away from the man, unwilling to look him in the eye. It was one thing to be at this man's mercy, it was another to show weakness in front of him. No one but Kurenai had any idea of the nightmares she had experienced – and it was she that had helped Anko through them. For a time, Anko had thought she had conquered the nightmares, but apparently not.

"Well, whatever drug you gave me must have been seriously fucked up then," Anko said, trying to downplay her weakness, "what do you want from me anyways?"

"I didn't drug you," the man said, with surprising patience. Cold fury burned in his eyes, begging to be released. Anko attempted to turn her eyes away but the man leaned forwards and caught her cheeks with his fingers, holding her tightly and forcing her to stare him in the eyes. "Think," his growl commanded her, daring her to disobey.

"What are you talking about?" Anko weakly reached up to place her hands on the back of his hands, intending to push him away, but they just remained there in a mess of confusion.

"You may not want to go down that path, but I have no patience for your hesitance," the man was glaring at her, his violent interior manifesting for a moment as his grip tightened. "You and I have business together, and I expect my due."

"W-what…?" hesitation, fear, panic, they all shined in Anko's eyes as she weakly tugged his hands. The man pulled himself closer to her, uncomfortably close, noses inches apart.

"Think," he instructed forcibly. Something flashed behind Anko's mind as she suddenly remembered.

"_Where are we?" Anko directed her question to the man sitting in the seat next to her, while motioning to the empty stadium around them. The man cocked a head to the side, a mysterious smirk playing across pale lips._

"_We're in a mental construct that was created when both our minds established a telepathic connection," the man told her. Anko arched an eyebrow._

"_Cool, though I don't really think I understand what's going on, it's obviously some seriously uber powered ju-ju," she nudged the man with an elbow, a teasing smile on her face, "You know, if you wanted to ask me out you could have simply asked the normal way."_

"_Hardly," the man drawled, not sharing her humor, "This is more business then pleasure, I'm afraid." Anko frowned, not liking where this was going._

"_Oh, and what business is it that you have with me?" years of paranoia ate at her, urging her to move in for a killing blow, but she stayed her hand as curiosity bubbled just below the surface._

"_It's a simple matter, really," the man told her, leaning back in the seat. "You are aware that the Elemental Nations are on the verge of another war, yes?"_

"_It's rather obvious, I would think," Anko admitted, nodding. The man nodded._

"_To put it simply…I am…displeased with the way the world is right now," he attempted to explain, "If things continue as they are, another war will soon erupt, and every nation will be fighting each other. There will be death, rape, and civilizations committing whole scale suicide in the billions. Utter chaos. Shame," he bemoaned._

"_You sound like there's something that you can do about it?" Anko pried. The man offered a smile. It wasn't nice._

"_I can, I will," he promised, as if talking about the weather. "You see, what the world lacks is a common enemy and goal to push them in the proper direction for peace. Luckily, I know of one person that would fit the role of global tyrant quite comfortably. In fact, he is at the heart of the problem…" the man explained._

"_You see, in the next few years this 'man' will manipulate the world to his own ends and pit one country on another to divide the world and break the spirits of the nations. While the countries would be fighting everyone else, they'd secretly be manipulated into fighting each other as this man goes about his goals that will put him as the leader of the world, all subjugated under his power," the man told her._

"_So, I don't see how you'd be able to stop him and bring peace to the world, if everything is as you say it is," Anko told him. The man nodded._

"_It wouldn't be if that were all. However, this man's goal is to collect nine special people in the world, so that he may possess the ultimate power which he would use to forcibly control the world's population. Naturally, no one in their right mind would want to be controlled in such a way," he said. Anko agreed. "Now what would you say would happen if, say, every country suddenly learned of this man's plans and his threat level? Wouldn't you think that they would DO something about it?"_

"_I guess, but I'd imagine that he'd have to be pretty damn powerful to warrant an alliance between the full ninja nations," Anko said._

"_Of course; this man warrants that, however. He's highly dangerous, powerful, and willing to do anything to achieve his goals. Not to mention that he has many powerful allies that the countries would be sure to recognize as a major threat," he told her._

"_Like what?" Anko asked, intrigued._

"_Like the likes of Hoshigaki Kisame, Sasori of the Red Sand, Deidara of the Exploding Clay, Hidan of the Order of Jashin, Kakuzu the Immortal, Itachi Uchiha and…"_

"_Madara Uchiha…"_

_Anko's mouth opened in surprise at this last name. While the first six were impressive and frightening to imagine in one group, the last name was just down right terrifying._

"_How can that be? Isn't Madara Uchiha supposed to be dead?" Anko asked in disbelief._

"_Yes, and no," the man said. When Anko looked to him for answers he decided to elaborate._

"_Well, technically, Madara is dead. However, there are certain individuals in this group that actually have the ability to bring people back from the dead. It is the intentions of several of the members in the group to eventually bring Madara Uchiha back from the dead, fully revived, young, and much stronger then he was in life. They've only been waiting for the most opportune moment to strike," he said._

"_This is unbelievable," Anko placed a hand to her head in shock, thinking fast, "Are you sure?" she asked the man. He nodded._

"_Yes."_

_Anko paled at this, imagining what kind of terror Madara was from the stories that she had heard as a girl and from her ex-teacher Orochimaru._

"_We need to tell the Hokage about this right away," she said, attempting to stand. The man reached out and pulled her to the seat again, looking to her sternly._

"_In due time – right now I have a proposition for you," he told her._

"_This isn't the time, we-we need to start preparing if we have any hope against Madara!" Anko said hurriedly. Once more attempting to stand she was forced back down._

"_Listen closely, human, for I will not offer this again," he glared at her, daring her to say or do anything that he found distasteful, before beginning again, "You may not believe it but I am fully capable of taking on and defeating Madara Uchiha." Anko looked at him incredulously. "Seriously," he growled._

"_Then why do you sound so worried?" Anko questioned._

"_I am only one man," the man told her simply. He continued, "Even if I were to defeat Madara that would not solve the world's problems. No, the whole world must be in consensus and allied against these foes for true peace to be achieved. To do that, I must take a step back and allow the human race to evolve to meet this danger head on."_

"_That's why we have to hurry!" Anko exclaimed. The man only glowered at her. He hissed._

"_You do not listen! I told you that I have a proposition, and there, it lies with what we have been discussing," the man told her simply. He then pulled himself up, saying, "I intend to create an army."_

"_Say what?" Anko asked._

"_It's very simple, to herald this great change, the human race will need a driving force, a metaphorical machine that pushes them along the path of peace. To this end, they will need an army that they can not only rely on, but learn from and grow."_

"_So what does that got to do with me?" Anko asked._

"_It's very simple," he stated, looking at her intently, "You've been chosen."_

"_Chosen – chosen for what…?" Anko wondered._

"_Like you, I was once weak and simple, but then the Darkness found me. It's a primordial creature, ancient as time itself. In me it saw promise, and a tool. In it I saw power, and hope. It welcomed me into its open arms, accepting me as its own, and I, it. Since then I've become something less than human, but also something more," he took a breath. "I have become a devil…THE Devil: the Soul Taker."_

_Anko stared at the man in stunned silence for several moments more, not sure what to make of him. Basically, this man had just admitted to being evil incarnate. What was she supposed to say to that?_

"_And what does that have to do with me?" she whispered._

"_It's simple – you've been chosen, chosen to become a devil like me," he said._

"_Why would I want to be that?" seriously – she already had enough trouble with the villagers for being the abandoned student of the traitor Orochimaru. She doubted that they'd be all that accepting if she was suddenly to grow wings and start eating babies. Which wasn't a pleasant thought, mind you; the eating babies part, not the villager's part._

"_You think you'd be doing this for free?" the man scoffed at the idea, knowing where to poke her buttons. "I fully intend to pay you for your services."_

"_And what do you have that I want?" Anko asked, doubting that there was anything._

"_One-free-wish," he held up a single finger. "In return for being turned into a devil and aiding me to save this ungrateful planet, I will grant you a single wish. Any wish you can think of that is within my power I will grant. And I assure you, there isn't much that isn't in my power." He promised her._

_Anko laughed at the ridiculousness of everything, wiping at her eyes. "Do you really think you have the power to grant my wish? Do you even know what it is that I what?"_

"_Yes – your heart is an open book to me," he told her simply, staring at her intently, "you desire more than anything to never be alone, to never feel alone, even if you are in the middle of a crowd. Above all else you wish for a companion that will be by your side to the end of time… sweet, innocent, naïve… a gentle heart, and lonely soul," he mused._

_Anko pulled back as if struck, looking suddenly lost as her eyes searched everywhere but him. Despite being rather tall for a woman, Anko still managed to look like a child as she self-consciously pulled away from the man._

"_Lies – keep your silver tongue to yourself," Anko spat, turning away, "do not tempt me anymore."_

"_Does it frighten you? That I know you better than your best friend?" the man asked, stopping her in her tracks, "are you so closed off that you can't recognize the truth when you see it?"_

"_You said it yourself – you are the devil," she spun, looking spiteful. He looked bored._

"_I am – and I admit that I am a deceiver – but that doesn't mean that it's any less true. Sometimes, the best way to manipulate someone is to give them what they want," he intoned, with the casual indifference of someone swatting a fly._

"_And so that's all that I am to you then?" Anko spat, fury in her eyes, "A means to an end; pawn in your little game of chess to throw away as you see fit? Thanks but no thanks!" she spun, intending to flee._

"_You are an aggravatingly paranoid woman, you know that," the man stopped her in her tracks by placing a hand on her shoulder. Anko swatted at it and he let her go, but she didn't move, "You have no idea of the bigger picture and your role as it – do you even know what it means to be a devil?"_

"_Why should I?" she growled._

"_A devil is a lord of hell, royalty in the eyes of demons, far beyond the reach of human semblance," he told her indulgently, as if to a child, "I could no more treat you as a pawn then I could myself."_

"_And how should I believe that? Why should I trust your word?" her words weren't so biting now, more tired than anything else._

"_You have no reason to trust me, nor should you. To do so would be foolish," he turned her around and stared at her. She stared defiantly back. "However, can you really afford to ignore this opportunity?"_

"_And how would you grant this wish?" Anko asked, curious now. The man's smile was a cruel as usual._

"_Because I intend to pledge my life to yours…."_

The last few pieces of her memory flashed before her eyes. She remembered agreeing to the man's deal, then feeling power flow through her. There were a few brief flashes of a desert, then fighting ninja. Then she remembered fighting Kakashi and Kurenai, and feeling a pain sweep over her, and a darkness creeping into her heart that suddenly made her want to curl up and die.

All this only took a few seconds, and when she was finished she looked to the man.

"What happened?" she asked, for lack of anything better to say. The man tilted his head.

"Perhaps it would be best to let Kurenai explain – she is after all risking her life to save your own. She'll explain things better than me anyways. Besides, I have things to attend to in the living world anyways," he moved to the mouth of the cave, turning to look back at her, "I'll send her right in and be on my way." Then he departed.

Anko was only given a few moments to wonder what his cryptic answers were about, and then she was swept into Kurenai's arms as the woman sobbed, overjoyed to see her alive. Anko returned the hug tentatively, feeling tears collect at the edges of her eyes. In seconds she was bawling along with her friend, happy that for the moment they were alive.

* * *

XXX

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi was nursing his pipe while studying his student Jiraiya, his successor's student, Kakashi Hatake, and his friend Iruka Umino. Each of these men all shared one thing in common: Naruto. They were meeting here today to hopefully get some answers from the wayward genin, who Hiruzen had learned WAS indeed the very same man from the chunin exam stadium.

They had all met earlier in the day after all the excitement from the failed invasion wore off. After convening, the group had begun plotting ways to get Naruto to explain where he was and what the sudden change in appearance, attitude and skills were all about. During this time, Hiruzen had relayed the events that had led to Orochimaru's death, and the revelations that Naruto had briefly parted with. The group confounded themselves on trying to figure out how all this was possible, but no one could pinpoint an exact answer other than blaming the Nine Tailed Fox.

As the sun inched over the horizon and darkness swept over the land, a figure appeared in the room so suddenly that it had almost appeared as if he had always been there. Every single ninja in the room jumped in surprise and fright to suddenly find themselves surprised by the appearance of the shadow.

But one survey of the man that had appeared in the midst brought forth an onslaught of questions that didn't seem to have an end. When the noise level in the room reached nearly shouting proportions the man raised a hand calmly to silence them.

Once the noise level receded Naruto lowered his hand and calmly began.

"Gentlemen – I have much to say and very little time to say it. You will no doubt not be pleased by what I have to say, but do not fear, it shall be over quickly…"

And so the meeting had begun.

* * *

XXX

To Be Continued…

XXX

* * *

Okay, this was a seriously difficult chapter to get out.

I was especially having trouble with the beginning, as I couldn't decide on how it would start. I knew that I wanted to give some details about some of Naruto's life in hell, but I didn't know how I'd do it. In the end I settled for what I have now.

Hinata lovers or haters shouldn't start rejoicing or flaming, yet. For the next while Hinata won't have a major part in the story, and even when she does show back up as a major character it won't feature any significant development with her relationship with Naruto. Why? Because I'm not too fond of romance now, so I decided to write a story a little differently.

This story will ignore my usual type of story, which is an adventure/romance story and focus more on political intrigue and religious overtones. Why? Because Naruto's the fucking devil, that's why!

As the Deceiver, Naruto will manipulate and break his enemies. Romance as the devil seems a little farfetched, even if it's going to happen sometime in the story. That isn't to say that the story will focus on it, as the romance will be a VERY minor part of the story, but it will be there.

Harem fans should rejoice, as I've decided that this fic WILL have a Naruto/harem pairing. However, it'll be somewhat small compared to my usual harem stories, only a few girls/women in it, and like I said, the romance will be downplayed in context of everything else.

Now, while there will be romance, Naruto won't actively look for it…in fact, for the most part Naruto won't even care about it. Even when one of the girls in his harem get him to bed them, Naruto will still see them as glorified bed warmers for a while longer. I intend for the romance to be slow going, and have more of a realistic quality, especially since Naruto won't be interested in it. It'll still come to him all the same, but he won't take a vested interest for quite a long while.

Anko fans should rejoice as well, as Anko has been decided to be a part of the harem, too. In fact, these next few chapters will be Anko's introduction as a major character, and this explains why Hinata gets the back seat, too.

I'm thinking that the harem will just be four girls/women. Why? For the purpose of realistic character development. With a smaller harem I'll have more chances to develop a believable character while keeping the size of this fic to manageable size.

There is just two more spots for girls in the harem. I'm open to ideas on who these two girls/women in the harem will be, but don't expect any guarantee that the girl you want will be on the harem. This isn't a poll, and I can't be persuaded. About the only person who will have any significant say on the matter is VFSNAKE, because I'm writing this story in homage to him.

However, if you drop a comment explaining to me your reasons why you want a particular girl/woman in the harem, I'll listen. I read every review that I'm given, even the bad ones, and am always looking for what the readers have to say. I imagine that it's only a matter of time till someone points out someone that I find just perfect for the role, and then I'll decide.

Of course, if you want to tell me which girl/woman you want, you can't say something like "because she's hot," or "her and Naruto will be perfect together". You have to give me a good reason to include her, such as things like jealously from a certain character, the intention to manipulate Naruto, friendships, sensei, things like that. I want a good reason why to pick a character before I decide.

Finally, I feel it's of note to mention that I do **NOT** watch the Naruto anime. I instead **READ** the **MANGA**, so, because of this, I only know about the girls/women in the manga, not the anime filler girls. Because of this, I will **NOT** accept suggestions for a **FILLER** character to be in Naruto's harem. Simple as that…

Anyways, off with you!

Cheers!

PI.


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